The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted
by lawchan
Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life, but that's hard now days. Especially with demons roaming the Earth. And being selected by two vampires for a mating choice doesn't help either. Join Zell and co. for an awesome adventure, one that is guaranteed to take you for the ride of your life. More info inside. YAOI WIP
1. The Hunt is On

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make maters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break?**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell + other minor pairings**

**A/N: I've been itching to get this story up for a while! Welcome to the first chapter! Btw if you're expecting a lovey dovey romance story this is not the place to be, however if you want hardcore action and explosions and blood with deep plot please continue :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 1: The Hunt is On**

**Seifer**

Never in the whole ten years of being a vampire have I ever had the pleasure of hunting down something so innocent, so pure, so beautiful, so...deadly. I have been hunting him for approximately a month. That irresistible scent of his, it drives me crazy. As if it were not difficult enough to catch him as it is, now he is armed and ready to fend me off with silver bullets and bombs that sting my eyes and burn my nostrils due to the retched stench of garlic. He certainly has done his research, which is another reason why I must have him. He is a fighter, he is a challenge, he's dangerous.

And when I say that I _must _ have him, yes I do mean in _that_ way. You see, not only does the scent of him make me hungry, it also arouses me sexually. At first this wasn't the case, but then I began learning more and more of his mannerisms, becoming more and more accustomed to his scent and quirks.

His name is Zell by the way. Zell Dincht. Although he is male, and although I am male, I _still _have the sudden urge to...well...mate with him, to have him bear my children. I know it may sound strange, but ever since I became a vampire all of these feelings and desires have become nothing but natural. It is instinct and he will bear witness to the extent of this hunt. For me it's a little more than complicated. I don't necessarily want children..but the act puts those gears in motion is undeniably obvious. I want to fuck Zell Dinct.

I'm sure you didn't know this, but male vampires are one of the very few demons that can get another male _and_ female human pregnant. Female vampires however, cannot carry due to the fact that once they've been bitten and changed, the maternal cycle stops. Zell isn't aware of my lust, only my hunger like most humans are. I'm almost tempted not to kill Zell after the birth, but I will need a partner. I am a fool for wishing such things because those are customs of mortals. And I am a beast, a monster. That's just the way it is.

Now that I am a vampire who is looking for a mate I must shake away those customs of wanting things like marriage and a family, because that is only a privilege that the living will experience.

I'm getting closer and he doesn't even realize it. Perfect chance to have my intentions carried out right here in this dark alley he's turning into. By the way my name is Seifer. Seifer Almasy.

**Zell**

Have to run. Have to get away. Have to hide. But where will I go? Everywhere I end up, he's always one step behind me or ahead of me. I don't even know his name...the ever persistent vampire. My stalker, the man I speak of has blond hair and a white trench coat. He has been trying to kill me for a long time now and I don't even know why...

As far as I can tell, I'm just his prey. He's a killer who I've only managed to avoid twice now-I don't think that he'll allow a third escape from me. Which is why this time the roles have switched. As of now, while I swiftly turn into this dark alley to lay my trap, I declare myself the killer and _he_ is the prey. I will KILL him once and for all.

I had to leave my home in Balamb where he found me for the first time-I just can't put my mom in danger anymore. The only thing I left for her was a note telling her how much I love her and that maybe someday I'll get to see her again. I want to taste some of her wonderful cooking and bring her home grandchildren someday. I laughed to myself. She always wanted grandchildren. And since I'm her only child I'll make sure she sees that before she leaves this world...hopefully...

In order to keep myself alive, I must KILL him. I've done my research. Garlic and silver is all I have at the moment. It's all I could manage to get my hands on at such a short time span between now and the last attack where I had used everything I had to fend him off. I will use garlic to blind him. Then as he staggers and thrashes about, I will take this blade made of silver and impale his heart. That's how you kill a vampire. He's close now. I can feel his hunger at my backside. I must prepare the decoy.

I took off my red and black leather jacket and winced as I slit my wrist with the knife, applying generous amounts of my warm red blood onto the cold material. This was my favorite jacket, but oh well...my life is on the line here. I threw it in a nearby dumpster and crouched behind a box where I would hide and wait with a handful of garlic. If this plan failed, two new options would open. I either ran, or I died. As I poured the garlic into my palm I felt the air get heavier. He's here.

**Seifer**

What a dump. This alley is obviously where Zell plans to take his "home field advantage". The funny thing about it is that his plan has already failed. I'm a vampire. Did he really think that I would smell his jacket _and _him at the same time and not be able to tell the difference? Stupid boy. Though, his efforts could only be described in one word: Cute.

As I walk down the damp narrow alley I can feel eyes on me from behind those boxes, watching me, waiting in the shadows like a common low-life. Waiting for me to activate his trap like the oblivious bunny he thinks I am. But no, Zell. YOU are the bunny, and I am the predator. You are the game, and I am the hunter. You'll find out all about that when I have your body writhing underneath me torn between pleasure and pain as I fuck you mercilessly, ignoring your every cry for me to stop.

I walked as he expected me to over towards the dumpster to open the lid and find a jacket inside. HIS jacket. Zell wastes no time. Behind me I can hear tiny footsteps approaching my backside. He tries his best to silence his shoes, but even if he was a master ninja I'd still hear him _and _smell his fear. Heightened senses, including hearing and smell were gifts of being a vampire. Unfortunately at this moment I can't help but hold resentment towards these gifts because I can smell the stench of the garlic in his hand, which also ruined his own beautiful scent. It's making my eyes water. No doubt he plans to use it as a blinder.

Playtime is over. Before he is able to throw that crap in my face I whirl around and grab his wrist. He didn't realize I had him caught until about four seconds later. Fast reflexes, sweetheart.

**Zell**

The place where the killer gripped my wrist felt like it was about to snap. This was the first time we ever made physical contact since the first time we ever met and now I'm experiencing first hand how strong he is again. The garlic was knocked out of my hand and lay somewhere on the pavement in tiny particles of forgotten dust. I've failed. In mere moments I would be dead and I didn't even fucking know why!

If it's going to end here, I might as well go out fighting. Zell Dincht would never go down without a fight! I thrust my knee towards his gut. He caught it with his hand and gripped it like he was gripping my wrist. The knee (like any other kick) Was just a distraction for what my free arm was about to do.

**!BAM! **

The sound of my fist colliding against his nose sounded like someone snapped a pencil in half. I hope I broke it! He staggered backwards holding his face in one hand. I took no time in pulling out the silver blade and daring the spawn of hell to underestimate me again. With a lick of his own blood dripping on his upper lip and an almighty smirk on his face, he only succeeded in further pissing me off.

I charged at him full speed aiming the tip of this knife at his heart. One whirl and I could feel pain searing up my back from his choke-hold. No matter how much I struggled I couldn't get free. Well, it was worth a try, right?

The blade had fallen to the ground long forgotten. He pinned my back to the brick wall and my wrists above my head with one gloved hand. I dared to look at his face and was met with the most deadly pair of green eyes I had ever seen. And they were staring right back at mine. They captivated me, and hypnotized me to accept my awaiting death silently. My breath became hitched. I couldn't talk or even scream for help for that matter, as though my lungs were stuck in my throat.

The killer smirked at me, reveling in the greatness of the prey he had finally caught, I assume. What an arrogant prick he was. He got closer sealing the gap between our chests until his was pressed against mine. He only needed one hand to restrain two of my wrists, making me feel extremely weak compared to him. With his free hand he caressed my cheek causing me to blush, which in turn caused him to smirk even wider.

What the hell was all this for anyway!? He has me where he wants, why doesn't he just get on with the killing? As if on cue, or he had read my thoughts, he hunched his towering body down towards my neck, hurtfully ripping the collar of my black T-shirt and exposing my bare skin of my neck. Gulp.

A gust of wind blew towards his backside making his long white trench shroud me from the world's eyes while he proceeded to murder me. Yet there was hope.

"Step away from him," an icy authoritative voice declared from the end of the alley. The killer and I looked at the silhouette of a slim figured man. Maybe I _could_ see daylight once more. Some one had come to save me! My stalker's eyes slit at the newcomer. I looked from the tall blond vampire to the newcomer and didn't even notice the air become ticker again, or the fact that the blond killer had his knee wedged between my thighs.

The killer finally responded. "I smelled him first," he growled possessively smothering me to the brick wall even more. What did he mean "first?"

The hero walked slowly towards us stepping into the moonlight stopping a few feet away from us. He wore a black jacket with white fur around the collar. He was shrouded in a lot of darkness a subtle hints of plain white. As he got closer I got a good look at the cold glint in his expression. His eyes were icy-blue-like cold water and his hair was chestnut brown.

"Do I look like I care? He's mine," he finished flatly. I caught a glimpse of fangs from the corners of his pouting lips.

At that moment my heart collapsed into my stomach. As realization hit me, I trembled under the first killer's weight. TWO vampires were hunting me down.

**Seifer**

The garlic flew from Zell's hand the moment I snatched his little wrist. His plan has failed (naturally) and I could hear his heart beating faster, he hasn't given up hope yet. I could see the determination in the eyes of my little fighter. He's such a firecracker, I admired. I grabbed his knee as he tried to bring it into my stomach. Feet belong on the ground, child, or in your case they belong over your head or around my waist. Heehee, yeah I'm a huge pervert when it comes to things I shouldn't want.

I didn't have much time to laugh at my private joke when something hard collided with my face. Blinding white light sent me staggering back a few steps but it wasn't enough to befall me. I think the little twerp broke my nose. That's okay though. When you're a vampire, your healing rate increases. I licked the metallic red liquid from across my face for now. The strike didn't anger me, but it aroused me. To know that he is strong and beautiful at the same time makes the temperature of my always cold blood boil.

If I wasn't aware that this particular hunt wasn't as risky as others, I wouldn't be interested. Also, my dick wouldn't get this hard either...just saying.

My prey pulled out a silver knife from his pocket and got into a defensive stance. So damn cute, yet so damn dangerous. He needed to be taught a lesson.

Just when I thought he was smart, he charges at me blindly, and I easily maneuver him into a choke hold making him drop the knife. In mere seconds I have him pinned to the nearest wall, hands above his head, classic rape position. I had to resist all temptation to just rape him against the wall right here and now. I want this to be somewhat clean and I don't want to traumatize him...much.

I'm faced with a difficult decision. I have him right where I want him. But should I a). Fuck or b.) Feed? Definitely fuck. This beauty deserved life over death. A human life that is. Not a cursed one like mine and my brethren. Besides I just ate a few hours ago. To be honest I wasn't even that hungry. I was horny.

With my mind made up, I closed the gap between us and trapped him under my gaze. For centuries vampires have used this method to coax their prey into a submissive state him on the spot to the point where he won't dare scream.

He's so beautiful. I ran my hand down his tattooed cheek, making him blush, a feature that I lack due to always having cold blood. I brushed my envy aside for now and ripped his shirt apart. His face didn't falter. What bravery and such golden hair he has. Much like a chicken. My brave little Chicken-Wuss. Well, little chicken, brace yourself. The big bad wolf finally gets to fuck you.

I placed my lips down to his neck. "Step away from him." Great, another vampire out of his league...

**Squall**

I can't take it anymore. His scent is driving me crazy. I've been a vampire since birth, and at the age of 19 (going off of looks, anyway) I'm a little bit more than ready to find a suitable mate, and by the smell of things, I've found him.

He's about 5'3" in height, blond, around 16 or 17 years old and his name is Zell Dincht. I figured out his name by following him to the hotel he was staying at and reading his occupant's file...after I killed the concierge only a few hours ago. Sometimes when I smell him I get his energy level confused with a hyperactive five-year-old. He has really fast metabolism and a very active body. I followed him all the way to Deiling City from Timber where I had first smelled him. It seems as though he's been avoiding someone for a long time. Though, it's hard to tell who he's running from. An Ex-boyfriend I'm assuming? Whatever he is, he's strong, persistent, blond, tall and violent. If I want any chance with Zell I'll probably have to kill the other guy chasing him. Which would be no real problem.

I walked away from the main street to a nearby alley in the chilly end of summer night. Just following my nose. If I can't mate with him tonight then there's always tomorrow night. Vampires do most of their hunting and mating after the sun goes down. However, they browsed the streets during the day. Yes during the day. I don't know how that stupid rumor that vampires turn to dust when hit with sunlight.

Hearing a struggle coming down the alley, I immediately sped up my stride. Zell and his EX are fighting. Before I hastily followed my instincts and stormed in to save Zell from his attacker, better judgment struck me. I wanted to see Zell defend himself. I want to see how strong he is.

His stalker EX was smirking at him while Zell tried to kick him in the stomach. I was impressed by the next sound which was a cracking from the taller blond's nose. Ouch. That looked like it hurt. Whatever. You probably deserved it, prick. I mentally laughed how I was already standing up for someone I had only been following for less than a week.

When there was a big enough gap between the two blonds, Zell pulled out something shiny, a knife. Eventually, Zell was disarmed of it and pinned to the wall. If this wasn't enough to spring me into action, the fangs from the corner of the taller man's mouth was. That man was no EX. He was just a horny vampire. "Step away from him," I ordered, making my presence known.

The taller of the two blonds snarled in my direction wanting to know who interrupted his "play time". I stepped into the street light and let my proud royal features show fully. Zell had his eyes on me, but I wouldn't look him in the eye. I was too busy having a staring contest with his stalker to see whose resolve would break first.

He ended the contest by crushing Zell to the wall with his larger body and growling, "I smelled him first!"

I chuckled lightly at his child-like behavior. He reminded me of a kid saying, "Mine!" I can tell he wasn't born a vampire, since he hadn't learned that our race takes what we want whenever we want it. Cattle (humans) are always up for grabs for whoever sinks their teeth (and/or cock) in first. I'll teach him that right now.

No one touches my property. "Do I look like I care? He's mine," I declared. I could hear Zell's heart beating faster. He thought I was going to save him at one point. Now he's trembling beneath his stalker, practically about to piss himself.

Technically I _am _saving him-from being defiled by this trash. "Zell, listen to me. I want you to run far away from here," I told him. I'll catch up with you later. He looked hesitant at first. He was wondering whether moving would get him killed or not, but to both of our surprise...

"He's right, Chicken. Get outta here," The taller blond said as he released Zell by stepping out into the open. Why had he called him 'Chicken'? Zell's facial expressions seemed to have held the same question. He backed away slowly from us and when he felt he was safe enough distance, Zell dashed into a full sprint. I will catch up with him later, but for now I have to get rid of the competition. When Zell was out of sight the blond spoke again. "Seifer Almasy, vampire for 10 years."

"Squall Leonheart, born a vampire," I replied in the same curt manner not even bothering to look at the underling. Seifer's expression turned from arrogant to taken aback at my response.

"Hmph, now that Zell is gone I can rip you limb from limb, you little bitch," the man called Seifer spat as he pulling out a Hyperion model gunblade.

"My thoughts exactly," I agreed pulling out a revolver model gunblade. Satisfied at his second wave of surprise for tonight. Two vampires who wielded gunblades. This would without a doubt, be interesting.

**A/N: Hooray for the first chapter! Now hurry to the next one! And review Do it!**


	2. Scars

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

_**By lawchan**_

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make matters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break?**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell (others to come)**

**A/N: Yay! Chapter TWO! I realize how all these pairings have Zell looking like a bit of a whore. Well it wasn't intentional trust me lol. Don't worry there are other pairings lurking about this fic. glares Sorry for the delay in getting this updated. I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 2: Scars**

Seifer

This isn't any ordinary fight. This is a battle. A declaration of who will mate with Chicken. Gunblades are rare in the world. The fact that another vampire has one and is after the same prey as I am is a little too awkward to be a coincidence. I won't lose. He may have more experience as a vampire but I knew what it was like to be human once. That has to count for something, right? Right. Hyperion don't fail me now.

I take the initiative and lunge at Squall, swiftly swiping at his neck. He dodged and swiped at my knees nipping my ankle. It stung but I brushed it aside for now. Weird how he already knows where one of my weak spots are. Just how many fights has this Squall guy been into? His facial expression hasn't changed since we started fighting. He must have had training from someone of high ranking. He fights like a demon.

But I am more demonic. He leaped at me clashing his blade against mine as I blocked. With one shove I had him staggering backwards fixing his posture. Something caught the corner of my eye on the damp ground. It was the bottle of garlic that Chicken had.

**!BAM!**

It felt like my head was about to split open when Squall's fist collided with my nose. I fell to the ground with a thump and dropped my gun blade to the side. The second injury to the nose in one night. This time it was painful. There's a difference between a punch from a human and a punch from a vampire. My poor face was just beginning to heal too. Oh well at least squall only succeeded in getting me closer to what I wanted.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off of your opponent," Squall commented aiming his gunblade at my throat. "Any last words before I end your so-called life? I'll tell your precious 'Chicken' that you died an honorable death...that is after I've planted my seed."

I smirked at his words. "As a matter of fact I do, Squally-boy. Listen up now. When you're about to kill someone don't just stand around talking about it-" With that I grabbed the bottle of garlic with my gloved hand in one motion and thrust it at Squall's expressionless face. Brown powder exploded before his own eyes and he stumbled backwards coughing and gagging, his revolver clanging to the ground. I took my chance and slit a gash down his face between his cold blue eyes.

He grunted and held a gloved hand to his forehead in pain. "Bastard..." He was so quick. I didn't think he would be able to ignore that powerful smell so quickly. I took too much time planning my next move I didn't see his fast reflexes grab his revolver and sear a line right down my face the way I had. Crimson blood splattered against the walls and there was a fair amount on the tips of both of our swords. In the distance, sirens and horns could be heard. Cops.

I smirk at the offended boy and declared the match postponed, "Well looks like we'll have to finish this another time. See ya later."

"Much..." I heard him reply as I scampered off to find my Chicken. Things got sticky when the fuzz got involved.

Zell

Jesus, Zell. Can't you do anything right in your life without fucking up? I managed to get away from him once again, maybe that other vampire will kill him. It was pretty obvious they were fighting over who would get to kill me. I guess Vampires don't like sharing food. The thought of vampires ripping some poor human to shreds with their claws and teeth made me cringe. Or better yet they might kill each other. Yes, but of course the chances of that happening are slim. I guess it's time for me to hop cities...again for the third time. Maybe along the way I can find away to hide my scent a little better. That's the main way he seems to be finding me...

I need to do something about money as well. I'm low on gil. I'll have to get a part time job in Dollet or something. I made my way back to my hotel with a speedy step. I felt naked with just a T-shirt on. My jacket was like a second skin. I guess I shouldn't wear it anymore since it's easily recognizable. I might even dye my hair and get make up to cover my tattoo.

I swiped my key card in the door and flipped the light on of the dark room grabbing all of my belongings and packing them sloppily into a red duffel bag. I put on blue jeans and a zipper sweater over my undershirt. I'm ready to move on now. I left the crappy roach hole not even bothering to let the owner know I left. He'll get the message when he finds the door wide open and no one or nothing is inside of it.

The train station was at least half a mile away. If I power walk I can get out of here in 10 minutes. And that's exactly what I did. When I finally got there I purchased a ticket and winced at how light my wallet was getting. Definitely needed a job soon. I boarded the train and made my way past other passengers. I loaded my luggage and got a seat near a window anxious to leave my fear behind. A woman's voice came on the loudspeaker.

"This is a message from the driver. We will be departing shortly after this announcement. Please fasten your seat belts and make sure all luggage is secure in the overhead compartment of your seat. Next stop: Galbadia University. Followed by Dollet. That is all. Please enjoy the ride."

I decided to take a nap for now. I'll have to wake up at G.U. so I can be ready for the stop at Dollet. This may be one of the last times I'll be able to have a peaceful sleep. Even though I'm not aware of a pair of cold blue eyes watching me fall into sleep in a predatory manner from across the aisle of the train.

Seifer

"Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!" I roared in the man's face as he tells me that the last train for Dollet left 7 minutes ago. Stupid Chicken gets away again. I walked away from the train station and the startled geezer at the ticket booth. I really need to control my anger sometimes. That old guy almost had a heart attack just now. But now I would have to wait until tomorrow at 3 in the afternoon for the next train. I know for a fact that he left Deiling. I don't smell him as good anymore. All I smell is the blood from his jacket that he left. Speaking of which I should grab that so I can give it to him next time I see him.

I'm frustrated, tired, hungry, and horny. I need to take care of these four one at a time, otherwise I'd be destroying everything in my path. Lesse...if I don't feed soon I'm gonna faint right in this street. I'll find someone to eat and then I'll see if there's a way to get to Dollet quicker. I walk along the main streets to see if there are any cattle lurking about. I hear something break and someone gasp in pain at the same time down one of the alleys. I sniff the air and I can already tell someone's blood will be spilled. I head that direction cautiously.

A girl. About 17, trying to fend off four much larger and older guys, whose intentions were clear in those lust clouded eyes of theirs, and those disgusting leers.

One of the men pulled out a knife and ripped the girl's blouse apart, half-exposing her breasts. This is where I stopped watching and began rescuing. No one deserves to be touched in a way they don't want to, unless I'm doing the touching and Chicken's doing the squirming...yes...that's the only exception, heh. A piercing thrust rang through the air as my Hyperion went straight through one of the men's chest from behind him, spraying blood all over his now shocked friends. The bulky man's muscles tensed and he was pushed off of my blade with the bottom of my foot.

His friends were finally distracted from the now wide-eyed girl. "You son of a bitch! You killed Charlie! Get em', boys!" One man pulled out a pocket knife and charged at me. I made good use of that arm by using it as firewood. I amputated it right at the elbow and made his buddies watch as it flew against the wall. He cried out in pain and would have slumped to the floor, had I not grabbed him by the collar and made him take three bullets to the chest when his friend tried to shoot me. Human shields were always fun. I threw the now dead corpse at the shooter, sending the bodies sprawling to the ground and the gun sliding down a sewer gutter. Two dead and one was disorientated and the other was charging right at me with a pole.

Just then, something totally unexpected happened. He tripped over the foot of the girl and when he fell to the ground, she zoomed past me and he was immediately pinned by her. I watched in fascination as she ripped out his jugular with her own teeth. The man choked on his own blood and tried to stop the bleeding but the girl pined his hands to the ground. I was so wrapped up in watching the murdering going on in front of me I forgot that there was that one last guy who had the gun who I hadn't killed yet. He tried to hit me in the head with a knife of his armless friend's, but I unsheathed my claws and gouged him in the cheek, piercing him and lifting him off of his feet by his face, levitating him in front of me. I unsheathed my fangs and bit into his neck quickly draining him of every last drop of his blood. When I finished I let his pale body collapse to the ground with that knife still in his hand. It felt good to have a full stomach. I cracked my neck from my work out and put my sword back on its holster.

I look to the girl who was now shaking with blood around her mouth. She has silver hair and one visible blood red eye that reflected off of the moonlight. I resisted the urge to first ask her what happened to her other eye. "Are you okay, kid?" I asked.

"RAPE."

Her bluntness caught me off guard and made me flinch on the inside. She definitely wasn't a vampire. Why was she going around biting people in the throat? Then I found it amusing and my shoulders began to shake with laughter. "They didn't hurt you did they?"

She shook her head.

"Good. So err...you should get home then...why are you out so late anyway?"

"ORPHAN."

"Have a destination in mind?"

"G.U."

"Galbadia University? You're trying to get to College?"

She nodded. Wow not much of a talker.

"Hey I'm heading that way tomorrow by train."

"I COME WITH YOU!"

It wasn't a request, but a demand to my surprise. The kid was tough and knew what she wanted. But still... "Kid, you realize I'm vampire right? Did you not see what I just did?"

"NOT SCARED!"

She puffed her chest out. That was out of character for a girl, but then again, ripping someones jugular vein out when you're human wasn't exactly in character either. Regardless of what she said I could tell she was afraid of the night and the fear that lurked behind it. She wanted to come with me because she thought I could protect her. Wishful thinking, I failed at protecting a loved one a looong time ago...

The thought still gave me goose bumps. I don't think I would have even done that as an attack if I were human. "Fine. I still haven't figured out where I'm gonna stay tonight. Umm...you might want to do something about your...err..." I pointed at the corner of my mouth to remind her that she still had a little bit of blood around hers. She blushed and sleeved it off, fixing her clothes as well. I laughed and asked her what her name was.

"Fujin," She replied.

"Fujin. Mind if I call ya Fu?"

Hn.

"Cool. Let's get out of here before the cops get here."

"AGREED!"

"Do you always have to talk like that?"

We made our way from the bloodbath, me with a full stomach and a still unsatisfied sex-appetite. Rrggh it sucks to be me!

Zell

I woke up at the Galbadia University stop. This is a pretty good school, I heard. I wonder what it would have been like to go here. I thought about college after graduation, but ever since that Vampire finding me in Balamb I don't think I'll have a chance at a normal life anymore. Sure it would be nice to go to college and graduate with honors and have a nice job with a big family and house and a dog and a pool. But would any of that be enjoyable if there was someone always trying to kill me? I think not. Which is why I don't think I can even have a life until two vampires are dead for good. Or until I myself am dead.

As the scenery of the dark plains whirred by I checked my watch. 11:23 P.M. Almost midnight. If I wanted a room somewhere I'd have to hurry. I'll be able to sleep tonight since a vampire can't enter your home uninvited. Although I've never seen either one of them lurking about in the hallway of any hotel that I've stayed at, I'm pretty sure a hotel room could be considered home, seeing as how I no longer have a home and nowhere else to go...yes, I'll believe in that.

"This is a message from the driver. We have now arrived at the Dollet Train Station. Please gather all of your belongings and exit through the side door of the train that has the word "Exit" in bright green above it. That is all and have a blessed day."

I chuckled inwardly at that last part while gathering my bag. "Blessed"? If you consider being chased down by demons of the night blessed, then buddy, I'd hate to see your version of a cursed day...Asshole. I stepped out into the chilly night air, putting the hood of my zipper sweater up to protect from the cold and to hide my hair. Again, I need to go to the store and get dye. Quick. I doubt there's a store open now so I'll just do it in the morning. Right now I'm exhausted.

I grabbed a map of the city and scanned the paper for the first sign of a hotel from my current location. Since I didn't have enough Gil for a cab and it was too dangerous to be walking out here for too long, in my case anyway...

Found one. "The Owler Inn". M'kay only a few blocks to the North. I began my little journey. Halfway there I had to stop because the feeling that someone was watching me had been nagging at me ever since I left the station. Could he have...nah, he wouldn't. Would he? Of course he would, you dummy. They want you dead by any means necessary. I quicken my pace. Even though it was nighttime, Vampires did most of their hunting in dark alleys. I'm on the main street so I don't have to worry about an open attack since cars and a few pedestrians were passing by.

There it was. The Owler Inn. Sanctuary. I ran in and rented a room with what little money I had left and didn't bother unpacking my things into the dressers, since I don't know when I'll have to grab and go again. All I want now is sleep. And this full sized bed is calling out to my body right now. I kicked my shoes off and snuggled into the warm mattress and pillows. I have a million things to do tomorr-ZzzZzz.

Squall

I've never seen Zell sleep until now. He's sitting across from me on the train headed for Dollet. If there weren't so many people on this train right now I swear I'd...great now I have to cover my groin before I scare the old lady sitting next to me. I guess if I get all excited because of watching him when he sleeps I'm going to have a hard time watching him do everything else. I turn away and occupy myself with the magazine in front of me. A smirk forms across my lips. I saw Zell sleep before Seifer did. I chuckel at the fact that he missed the train. I rub at the scar Seifer gave me. Bastard. Now I'll never forget our rivalry.

A college brochure for Galbadia University. I just realized I never really thought about college until now. Being the son of the vampire king, I never felt the need for money or a job or education when I had everything at the tip of my fingers. Which is why I need a mate really badly. If I don't find one on my own in due time, the council will set me up with that ghastly hume, Rinoa. The thought of her curls my hair and makes me shudder.

To put it simply, the girl was a bitch who was a bit too obsessed with the colors pink and blue, shopping, and dogs. I'd been forced to go on a date with her before and had a miserable time. All she does is annoy the hell out of me with questions. "Squall, what's it like to be a vampire?" "Squall, does it hurt when your fangs come out?" "Squally-kins, what should we name our child? If it's a girl I was thinking-" shudder.

Anyway how could I possibly think of having children with someone like that? I'd go crazy with all those womanly cravings and emotions. However, if Zell did- I wince at the fact that I'm not supposed to think of things such as love and affection. A vampire's main purpose is to gain pleasure from cattle and procreate. The world keeps on spinning.

We finally arrived at the Dollet stop. I stayed behind to keep my distance from Zell, but close enough to keep my eye on him. I'll follow him to wherever he's going and plan my next moves there. He stepped out onto the platform and bundled up in his sweater. He looked insecure, like he felt naked and cold. It wasn't that chilly out tonight, but then again he's human and I'm a demon. His body temperature can change.

He began to speed walk after a while and looked over his shoulder a few times in my direction. Very good senses, Zell. But I'm too stealthy for you. I stuck to the shadows as I followed him to this unknown destination that only Zell seemed to have in mind. After a few more blocks I found out where he was going. A hotel. Had he been hotel hopping ever since Deiling? More than likely. Seifer has been following him for a while now. Owler Inn. Hm, funny name. And I rarely find things funny. But an Irish name here and there would usually do the trick.

He walked inside and headed straight for the front desk. I stood behind a shelve of magazines so Zell wouldn't recognize me. The concierge gave him his key and he headed right for the elevator. The light stopped on floor number 8. That made smelling a lot more easier now that I know what floor he's staying on. But I don't know what room he's staying in.

This is somewhat of a problem. He has a room that he has made his home, no doubt. I can't enter unless he invites me in? And why the hell would he do that? He knows what I want. I lick my lips at the thought and try to hide the bulge in my leather pants in the occupied lobby. I had to get in his room quick. I'll leave for now.

I made my way to the back of the hotel where there was some young kid smoking a cigarette against the wall. He obviously hated his job. I could tell by his body posture. The kid was a little taller than me, but I think I could fit his uniform. A brilliant idea passed through me. "Hey, kid. Do you know where I can find a decent club around here?"

"Yeah, man. You not from around here?"

"Nope, just came in from G.U. and I'm looking to have a little fun tonight."

"Well you came to the right guy," He replied grinning. "Here you see that building over there?"

"No I don't see it. Could you show me a little better?"

He was leading me down the path more further away from visibility. Perfect. It didn't matter where the club was. Because in a few moments I had him on the ground unconscious. No need to kill him, I'm not into killing teenagers. Zell is a teenager. I wouldn;t be happy if he was murdered now would I? Well atleast not until he has my children. Now to take his uniform. I look at his name tag. "Steve". What a common name the staff will be calling me.

**A/N: Hmmm good idea, Squall. R&R please!**


	3. The Suite Life

The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make matters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break?**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell (others to come)**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been really busy running track and dancing. But on the plus side I got to see some really cool movies called "The Number 23" and "300". In any event. On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 3: The Suite Life**

**Zell**

I woke up this morning around 8 feeling relaxed and well rested. Sleeping in this bed sure beat sleeping in an uncomfortable train chair that's for sure. I began the morning with a work out I always do that improves my upper and lower body. I didn't get much exercise in last night so I'll have to double up tonight when I get done with my errands.

I love having a fit body and with all of this running from vampires I get a nice jog in here and there. I'm glad I can be so optimistic with my life at stake. When I was done working out I hopped in the shower and let the warm water relax my muscles. The steam from the hotel showers will help my complexion and I won't have to go out in the sun for too long just to get a decent tan. Sunlight gives me headaches. No, I'm not a vampire. I'm just sensitive to U.V. rays.

You make think I'm feminine or gay for caring about my skin and body, but remember: I may only have a few hours or days before I'm murdered. So sue me if I want to look good before that happens. When I'm in my casket, I want my Ma to see what a handsome boy I grew to be. Her handsome adopted son. That's right, I'm adopted. I met Ma when I was 7, but she didn't adopt me until I was 9. Before that all I can remember is the orphanage on the island that I stayed at. The lady who took care of me and the other kids name was Matron. She was nice, a true mom figure, just not the real thing. Which is why it took me a while to warm up to Ma. I don't remember most of the kids who I played with. I also never met my real parents.

I got dressed and put on that stupid tight-zipper hoody on. I really miss my jacket. Today I'm going to dye my hair and cover my tattoo, I declared to myself. I walked through the hotel lobby to leave and laughed when I saw and employee getting yelled at by his boss. His boss made him open the door for me. I smiled sheepishly and tried to ignore the glare I got from the employee. 'It's not my fault you don't know how to do your job...'

There's a dollar store across the street from the Inn, so I went there and made my way straight for the cosmetics aisle. Looking at all the products, I just now got to thinking what color I should switch to. Black? Red? Brown? I figured black would be the least noticeable when trying to blend in with a crowd, so I bought that and some make-up. I got back to the lobby and that employee glared daggers at me until I got to the elevator. It arrived on the first floor with a 'ding' and before I got on I turned around to glare back at him before I got on. But he turned around at the last minute. 'Freak'.

I dyed my hair and covered my tattoo with the make-up I bought. When I looked in the mirror I looked like a completely different person. Different-but something wasn't right. Not many black haired people have blue eyes-it didn't suit me. And I looked and felt naked without my tattoo. More-so than without my jacket. When I had a tattoo my hairless baby face and big cheeks weren't as noticeable, but now I looked like a twelve year old because of that and my height. I slapped myself mentally. This was the whole point: To look different. If I don't recognize myself, no one else will. Which is good.

My tummy rumbled and made me realize that I hadn't eaten all morning. There was a hot dog shop right down the street. Hot dogs are my all time favorite meal in the hole wide world. Better than pizza. The shop was called Gulla dog(1). It was fast food. I can't remember the last time I ate fast food. That's all the more reason to eat some now. I don't need to tell you how fast my ass was in that place. The smell of oily French Fries and fried porks and beefs filled my nostrils with ecstasy. I made my way right up to the line less counter.

As far as I could see there were only two people working here. Two boys. One with short black hair and the other with long auburn hair. As soon as the auburn hair saw me he strolled over to the register smiling. "Welcome to Gulladog. How may I help you."

"Oh, could you give me a sec I'm still deciding."

"Take all the time you need."

I browsed the menu above the stoves behind the counter. I ordered, paid for the food and sat down and waited. It was ready in 2 minutes. Good service. I decided that I would take my food "home" and eat. If I ate here I'd be out in the open. I'm glad I picked the hotel that I picked to stay at. Everything is so conveniently placed by each other. Convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations. What didn't this city have? I finished my food on my bed and turned off the T.V. The clock said 2:15. Now was a good time to look for a job.

Again, the convenience of this place amazed me. Only two blocks down the street from the hotel was a bar called "Incubus". That is a funny name for a bar, I thought. I don't even know what that word means, but I don't really care since there was a flashing sign that said: "Now hiring dancers, bartenders, and servers." I went in and the first thing that you see when you walk in is the bar itself. The place was kind of empty because it was still early. But it looked like it got hardcore in late hours of the night.

I walked up to the girl behind the bar. "Excuse me? Do you know where I can find an application for the position?"

She beamed at me with bright green eyes. "You're here for the interview?"

"Oh...well I was thinking I'd put in an app. first."

The girl giggled and stuck little palm out for me to shake. "My name is Cassandra. I'm the bartender and you don't need to put in an application here. The interview is oral."

"Oh I see. Well then who will be giving the interview?"

"You see that guy over there?" She asked pointing at a muscular bald man sitting across the room. "That's the manager: Mr. Gordeev. Talk to him."

"Okay, thank you.

"Hope to talk to you soon!"

I walked over to the man slowly. He looked like he was busy, with all the papers scattered across his table. Maybe I should come back later. Too late. He looked up and smiled. "Can I help you, boy?"

"Ummm...yes I'm here for the interview," I replied nervously.

"What's your name, boy?" His voice was deep like a well. _Very_ authorative.

"M-my name is Zell Dincht, Sir."

He stood up revealing how tall he was. He towered over me, which made me a little uneasy but I brushed it off. "Valad Gordeev, owner of the Incubus," he introduced himself with a hard Russian accent and thrust his hand out between us. When I took a hold of it he almost broke my hand but didn't break my resolve. I was determined to get this job and a show of good character would definitely help me achieve that.

"That's a nice firm grip you've got there, Zell. Have a seat let's start the interview."

"Yessir," I replied with higher spirits.

"Before we start I want you to be full aware that you are being interviewed for a job in which alternative lifestyles are welcome and any slander or discrimination will not go unpunished?"

"Yessir, I'm not prejudice."

"Good then. Now how old are you?"

"17, sir."

"I see. You are not able to dance or bartend. To work behind the bar you must be at least 21 and to dance at least 18. All that's available for you is serving."

'That's fine, sir."

"Good then. I can't have you working nights since you're underage. But on weekends you might have to stay late. What is your availability?"

"Oh, I'm free anytime and I can start right away."

"That's great. It's a Saturday and we'll be pretty busy tonight. We're short a server so I'll need you tonight at 8 until closing. After that we can work out your schedule."

"Does this mean I got the job?"

"No, I just fired you on the spot...Of course you got the job, twit!"

I jumped up out of my seat and pounced on the man. "Oh thank you so much, sir! You won't regret this!"

"I hope not. And by the way call me Val. Not sir, Mr. Gordeev or Mr. Valad. I am only 31 just so you know."

"Sorry. Well I'll see you until 8 then, Si- I mean Val! Bye!"

I skipped all the way back to the hotel.

**Squall**

It's a good thing this Owler Inn place has an exclusive staff. You could walk around here any hour of the day in employee only areas as long as you have the stupid green and black uniform on. My "boss" is real asshole. I've only known him since this morning and he has had me deliver room service to over 10 rooms already. When he speaks I want to rip his stupid tongue right out of his big stupid mouth. And another annoying thing is he calls me-

"Part Timer! Where are you?"

"Over here, your Bitch-i-ness."

"What did you say?" He asked accusingly as he rounded the corner and coming over to me.

"I'm over here, sir." I repeated casually.

"I'm taking you off duty," he declared. Thank the devil! My feet could use a break. "Off room service duty that is. I'm switching you to bell boy."

"Fuck."

"What was that?"

"I said I'll get right on it, sir." I answered politely.

He smirked and headed off somewhere to annoy someone else probably. "Keep up the good work, Part-timer." He called as he rounded the corner again.

"It's Steven, you fuck."

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" He yelled.

"I said I'm going to have so much fun heaving the guest's junk, sir!"

I had been helping people carry their bags in and out of this damn hell hole for over 3 hours and still no sign of Zell. If I could just catch another glimpse of him I could probably get over the miserable storm I'm having now...

Right after I finished loading a senior citizen's bag on a cart, I smelled lilacs. It's _him. _He has come down to see me. At last my love will make an appearance. He got off the elevator and was heading straight for me. I smiled in his direction but he hadn't noticed me yet. "PART-TIMER!" I hadn't jumped at the sound of a hume's voice in years. But I guess when I'm around Zell I'm most vulnerable. "Get your ass in gear and open the door for that kid!"

"Yes, sir!" I ran to the door and let Zell walk through, beaming at him the whole time. But when he looked at me he just gave me a friendly 'hello' expression. Were lovers supposed to look at each other like that? I frowned at his back when he didn't turn around. He must not even remember me from last night. I glared at him for not remembering me. I made sure he felt my gaze burning into his back side and when he turned around I whirled around back towards the lobby. I don't want to make him uncomfortable...

Later on that day he came back and didn't notice me. He was to busy holding his food and rummaging through the bag. Did he always eat hot dogs and French fries while walking in public? I glared at his back for not looking at me again. When he turned around at me again I was already facing the opposite direction mock oblivious. I just can't meet his gaze yet. He shouldn't have this control over me. I'm the vampire. And i will mate him whether he likes it or not because I won't spend the rest of my days as the son who could not produce an heir to the throne when I take the place of my father as king of vampires.

About 20 minutes later he came back down with a full stomach. I could tell, because when he walked by I noticed his heartbeat wasn't beating its normal 80 but instead 75. I made a mental note to get him not eat fast food in the future. I held the door for him once more and nodded politely at him. He nodded back a little uneasily this time because he either suspects me for being a weird bellboy, or he finally recognizes me from the other night. I don't blame him for not remembering me. After all it was pretty dark and I am wearing green and black. When he came back an hour later he had a bounce in his step and his heart was back up to its normal eccentric 80/82.

Something exciting must have happened to him. I intend to find out...instead of a boring curt nod and wave, I think it's time for some verbal action now.

**Seifer**

Me and Fujin rented a car and made our way across the plains to Dollet. Free of charge, of course. The guy at the shop decided to give us a huge discount when Fujin held his hands behind his back and I had the tip of my sword aimed at his throat.

Fujin napped in the passenger's seat while I drove. I haven't slept a wink since I started hunting Chicken. Not that you would ever be able to tell though. Vampires don't really need sleep like humes and most other demons do. When the two of us arrived at Dollet I parked the car and woke Fujin. As soon as we got out the car I sniffed the air. It was almost 4 p.m. Zell was definitely here. I can smell him as clear as fried chicken and lilacs.

That spooky voice interrupted me from my pleasure sniffing. "WHY HERE?"

"I'm looking for someone," I replied bluntly.

"WHO?" Damn persistent brat.

We began walking away from the car and heading towards Zell's scent. "Someone special," I finally answered.

Fujin became quiet and seemed to be in deep thought before she announced, "DAYLIGHT!"

I looked around wondering what she was talking about. Oh yeah..._that. _"That's just an urban legend. Vampires can walk in the sun just like humes can. I'm not going to burst into flames where I stand," I explained calmly. She only grunted in understanding. "So what grade are you in?" I ask.

"GRADUATE!"

"You going to college?"

"SOMEDAY! YOU?"

"Thought about it. There are more important things."

"LIKE?"

May as well tell her. "Finding a mate." Fujin raisd her eybrow skeptically. So I elaborated. "The person I'm trying to find is the mother of my children. I've known it since the day I first saw him that he would be the one."

"He?"

I took out a picture of Zell that I got from his old High School's website and showed it to Fujin. I keep it with me always to remember how great the object is that I am after. In the picture Zell is sitting by a fountain hugging a dog ever so lovingly. "The picture is recent-about a week before his graduation, I explain to Fujin.

She looked away from the picture and declared, "VIRGIN BLOND!" A few people glanced in at her outburst on the busy Dollet Street. People probably thought she was talking about me, but I couldn't care less. We just kept walking.

"Yeah, I already know he's a virgin. I've popped a lot of cherries in my day, but this one is gonna be the best," I replied confidently.

Fujin let out a small smile from across her lips. I had to stop walking because the spontaneous burning on my scar almost blinded me. I fucking wanted to yell so badly but held it in so I didn't make another scene like Fujin did. Skinny arms found themselves supporting me and easing me down on a bench. "OK?" She sounded concerned.

Only a slight tinge of pain affected my scar now. I traced a gloved finger down the opening to see if there wasn't any lava in it. It didn't hurt any more. "Yeah, I'm alright. All this walking is making me hungry again. I need to feed soon."

Fujin traced her fingers down my scar. "WHERE!?" She asked imploringly.

"My new rival. He wants some of Chicken's ass too. I'm going to kill him."

"I HELP!" She demanded.

"Stay out of vampire business, kid." She glared at me with that eye of hers. I had a feeling it would be difficult to not get her involved in any of this so long as she stayed with me. Sooner or later we'll have to part ways. But for now it's nice to have a traveling companion.

"THEN I'LL HELP YOU LOOK FOR CHICKEN!" She announced.

I found two things funny. The first was that I'm not the only person who thinks Zell looks like a chicken, and two that Fujin wanted to help me find him." You sure you want to do that?" She nodded vigorously. She was sure of herself.

"YOU SAVE ME ONCE. NOW IT'S MY TURN."

"Well if you're sure, I'm sure...So what happened to your eye?" I chanced asking since I told her about my scar.

"Bad accident." She left it at that. I'll ask again when she feels more comfortable telling me.

"I see. Well I'm better now, so let's keep moving." We made our way towards a hotel called the Owler Inn. My scar got pangs of fire every so often but they weren't that serious so I just ignored it. Besides I already know the source of the irritation: Squall is close by.

**(1): Gulladog is a good restaurant that I go to after dance class. Their food is amazing!**


	4. Changes

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make matters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break? **

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references. **

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell (others to come)**

**A/N: Sorry I deleted this chapter. It was an accident and the file is on my old comp which is somewhere in a city dump. Here's a runthrough of what happened.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 4: Changes**

**Squall**

Squall was busy doing work for his annoying boss. He was waiting for his ball of sunlight to appear at any moment. Zell did come. He was on his way out somewhere and he looked nervous. Squall decided it was now or never. "Hey."

Zell turned around slowly and looked at the bellboy who had said caught his attention. The bellboy was looking at him, but Zell wasn't sure if he was talking to him. He looked around, but there was no one else behind Zell. "Me?" Zell asked. "What did I do?"

"Oh you're not in trouble or anything. What's your name?"

Zell tried to think of a good fake name. "Ellie."

Squall frowned. What? That wasn't his real name. "Oh, well. It's nice to meet you. So, are you seeing anyone, Ellie?"

Zell was a little amused now so he laughed and looked down. "Sorry, but you're way out of your league, don't you think?" Squall was silent with shock so Zell continued. "Get back to work or you'll get in trouble," Zell teased and walked out of the two front doors.

'_Where the hell did that attitude come from?_' Squall wondered.

**Zell**

Zell arrived outside Club Incubus by nightfall. He was right about this place. It transformed when the sun went down. There was a line of people trying to get in that stretched for a few blocks. Zell wondered if he could get in without having to wait because he now worked there. 'Duh,' he thought to himself.

He walked up to the front door where there was a bouncer guarding two double doors. By the looks of it he was the one who allowed people in. He was tan. Not tan tan, but bronze tan. And there was a big bamboo stick holstered on his back. Did he know martial arts? "Can I help you?" he shot at Zell.

His deep voice startled Zell, but he didn't show it. "You're in my way. I work here," Zell backfired.

"Where's your uniform."

"Obviously I just started." Zell was starting to get annoyed. "Dammit move before you make me late," Zell commanded.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to give me to make me move?" The tall man asked seductively.

Zell gulped. That's gross. He was about to give the muscular man a piece of his mind but then Mr. Gordeev came out of the door behind the bouncer. "Zell!" he exclaimed. "I was just going to come looking for you. What are you waiting for get in here!"

"Sorry, Mr. Gordeev. This man wouldn't let me in," Zell snitched.

The bronze man stammered. "I was only doing my job you little-"

"Raijin, be nice to Zell. He's new and he's going to attract lots of customers. Shame on you," he lectured. The man named Raijin looked like a dog that had just gotten a scolding. "Come on, Zell I'll get you ready for work." Zell walked past Raijin and glared at him. The bronze man glared back. It didn't look like they would be getting along in the future. Mr. Gordeev led Zell through a large crowd of people socializing and dancing.

The place was amazing. There was loud techno music playing and light effects that emitted from a beautiful disco ball that was controlled by electronics were all over the place. Alcohol was being served and there were dancers (male and female) on poles. Zell was in awe. Mr. Gordeev led him to the back of the building where there was a changing station. Men were changing into their uniforms and Zell was blushing at the anatomy he saw.

Mr. Gordeev had noticed. "What's wrong Zell?"

"Nothing," he lied. "I'd like it if you could you call me Ellie, by t he way."

"Oh a stage name. That's fine I'll put it on your name tag. But under one condition."

"What's that?"

"You have to call me Val. Remember I told you that yesterday?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that."

"You're almost an adult. May as well start acting like on now by acknowledging other adults by their first name," Val reasoned.

"You're absolutely right, Val. Thanks for the advice."

"No problem, kid. Okay back to business. Here's your locker and here's the key. Your uniform is inside. If you have any problems beyond a casual pinch of skin from a customer, you come let me know okay? If you have questions ask Cassandra the Head of the Bar. She'll get you started."

Val left to go about his business and Zell opened up his locker. Zell's jaw dropped. They expected him to work in this!?

Later on that night, Zell was feeling a little more than exposed. His feet hurt. Why? Because of his damn 3 inch open toed Latin heels. His thighs were red. Why? Because his damn shorts were so high and tight customers that Zell served couldn't help but just pinch him all over. The only thing that covered a large amount of skin was his shirt, which was fishnet see-through. He felt like a stripper without a pole.

Cassandra had said that even though he wasn't a stripper he had to give customers who came to eat something good to look at. She also said that all servers had to wear makeup. Zell was sporting black eyeliner and green eye shadow. He felt like a baby prostitute.

Zell had to carry trays on those shoes. It was going to be a long night. Zell had made his way over to a table that hadn't been served yet. He was getting the hang of this waiter thing. It was a group of college kids. When he approached them two girls and two guys stopped their conversation and got ready to order.

"How are you guys doing tonight?" Zell asked in his most cheery service voice.

"Better now that our fine ass waiter is here," an Asian boy said.

Zell blushed and looked at the floor. He'd been getting comments like that all night.

"Hey Nida, knock it off. You're making him uncomfortable," the other boy said.

One of the girls who was blond glared daggers at the boy named Nida, then glared at Zell. Nida must have been the girl's boyfriend. This changed everything. Zell smirked at the blond girl discreetly. "Oh how sweet of you," Zell said to the Asian boy named Nida, further infuriating the blond girl. Zell liked this kind of torture. "So what would you guys like to eat tonight?" He asked taking out his pen.

After he took their order he walked back to the front of the kitchen and placed the order slip on the revolving slot. A hand had touched his shoulder. "Hey."

"Oh I'm sorry did you forget something?"

"No, I just wanted to talk to you again," the auburn haired man said. Zell stared at him for a moment. Obviously he remembered Zell from somewhere. "My name is Irvine I was at Gulladog earlier today, I took your order."

Zell's eyes lit up in surprise. "Oh yeah. I remember you now. Sorry I've got like a million things on my mind," Zell looked over the tall man's shoulder to see the other girl glaring at Zell. This girl had short brown hair and piercing green eyes.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Zell asked.

Irvine turned around and took note of the girl sitting at his table. "Who Selphie? No she's just a friend. Quistis and Nida are going out but me and Selph just tagged along so cause we were bored. We usually come here on Fridays."

"Oh okay, I thought I was doing something wrong," Zell concluded. Irvine obviously didn't know when someone had a crush on him, especially Selphie. She looked like she was about to rip Zell's head off.

"Nah, it's cool. So what's your name?"

"Ellie."

"Oh okay, well I just wanted to give you this," Irvine took out a piece of paper and stuffed it inside Zell's little shorts on his hip. "That's my number. Can I have yours?"

Zell shifted to the side. That Selphie girl was glaring harder after what she just saw. "How bout I give you this instead." Zell grabbed Irvine's shoulders and stood on his tip toes. Even in heels he was too short to reach Irvine's face. He kissed him on the cheek. "There's more where that came from," Zell said mischievously.

"Wow, I really hope you call," Irvine walked back to the table with his friends with a huge smirk on his face. Zell got back to work and was satisfied that he had managed to piss off a few girls because their boyfriends thought he was hotter.

**Seifer**

Seifer had found the hotel directory and found Zell right away, under a different name of course. But he had been used to Zell changing his name so many times at various locations he was used to the type of names that showed up on the hotel rosters.

He wasn't far from the room so he took the elevator up and decided to wait in Zell's room. He tried to break into the room once he got off the elevator, but he realized that no matter how hard he tried the door wouldn't open, because a vampire had to be invited in to a person's "home" in order to enter. Seifer's scar started to burn.

"Fancy meeting you here," a cold voice said.

"I wish I could say the same, Squall."

**A/N: Okay I tried to rewrite this chapter as best I could, but it 's been a while. Anyway go on and read the rest of the story!**


	5. Stronger Bonds

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make matters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break? **

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references. **

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell (others to come)**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been really busy running track and dancing. But on the plus side I got to see some really cool movies called "The Number 23" and "300". In any event. On with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 5: Stronger Bonds**

**Seifer**

"If we fight here I'm sure the hotel staff will be pretty pissed with us disturbing their guests," Seifer declared smoothly.

Squall folded his arm over his chest and relaxed in front of his blond rival. "Don't worry, I'll let you live for a little longer. However, I would like to know what you're doing by _his_ room."

Seifer frowned. "I could ask you the same thing." The two vampires stared each other down already knowing why one another was standing outside of Zell's room. But, they couldn't fight over who got to see Zell right now because they were around humes. Although savage by nature, they knew that they had to be democratic at the moment.

Seifer proposed first. "How about you do what you have to do. Chicken is very good at getting away. I doubt you'll catch him tonight." Squall was surprised to know that Seifer was giving Zell up so easily. He must have finally figured out he had no chance. Seifer wasn't a mind reader but he could tell what Squall was thinking.

"I'm only giving you a handicap since you seem to be incapable of doing anything right," Seifer continued over Squall's glare. "I'm going to let you see for yourself once again that Chicken will never let you catch him, you've been chasing him for what? 2 days? I've been chasing him since he graduated in June. We have a stronger bond than you and I'm this close to getting laid I can practically taste his sweat in the air."

Squall was insulted that Seifer thought him incapable of capturing Zell. He felt like a charity case. He was the Vampire Prince for fuck's sake! He was no one's charity case. "I'll show you what can happen after 2 days, Almasy. Chasing a deer in the desert until it gets tired is your way, but my methods are a little more courteous."

Throughout their negotiating neither one of them was used to the pain in their foreheads to acknowledge that it was dulling. It seemed that as they were agreeing to disagree their scars were doing the same.

"Are you saying I can't be sophisticated and courteous? Get over yourself rich boy. I've been around the block. But that's not important right now. I'm more interested in seeing you fall flat on your ass later on tonight. And yes, I will be watching. Good luck, bellhop."

Seifer walked back towards the elevator and sarcastically waved Squall goodbye before the doors shut. "Arrogant prick…" Squall muttered.

**Fu**

Fujin looked around for the notorious Chicken all day. As far as she was concerned he was a phantom. She sat on a bench outside in the courtyard area and rested her feet. She wondered if maybe Seifer had found him and they were screwing like bunnies right now.

She may not be a vampire but she knew love when she saw it. No one chases someone down for a month unless it's love. Were vampires even capable of loving? They were certainly capable of killing. All this for one boy, she thought. Whatever Seifer was pursuing wasn't just a simple "butt fucking" as she like to call that sort of thing. Then she started to feel bad on Chicken's end. He probably wasn't even aware of Seifer's intentions. But she had a real good feeling he would be soon.

Fujin never had a boyfriend before. So it was odd to think about things like that. Would Zell keep running if he knew what Seifer wanted? Of course he would, she thought. But then again, maybe he would be woed by the vampire and fall into Seifer's arms. Was there such a thing as a happy ending with a vampire? Was there such a thing as safe sex with a vampire? She had a real good feeling she would find out soon. She decided she would stay with Seifer for as long as she could to learn more.

"Hey, kid," a cool voice spoke above her. Seifer approached her and sat down next to her on the bench in a lazy fashion.

"NO CHICKEN?" she asked.

"I guess he stepped out for now. The smell has faded into some other direction. I'm kinda tired. I've been chasing him non-stop for about 2 months now. I think I wanna crash somewhere close."

"I SEE…" so they would be checking in after all.

"Thanks for helping me look. When he gets back my rival is going to try and catch Chicken. When he does we're gonna have a front row seat."

Fujin's head whirled in surprise at her vampire buddy. "YOU GIVE UP?"

"Ha!" Seifer chuckled and crossed his arms behind his head and looked up at the setting sun. "Like I'm really gonna stop now. This is for that snob's own good. Once he sees how much the chic doesn't like him. He'll back off. And when he does I'll be there to help him get away from the pervert."

Fujin stared at Seifer and wondered how he could call Squall a pervert when both men had pretty much the same motives. "THAT CONFIDENT?"

"Of course!" Seifer shot up right and looked at Fujin. "I always get what I want! I don't need a rich papa or a crown to show that either. You're hanging with the great Seifer Almasy and don't forget that." Seifer declared with a smirk.

Fujin accepted that and sighed. If only things worked out that way for her. Maybe now that she was with Seifer they would. Might as well try that theory out. "HUNGRY!"

Seifer's eyes brightened as if there was something he needed to remember and he had just found it. "Oh I totally forgot. You've been running around all day and you're hume. You need food don't you? Well hows Chinese sound?"

Fujin simply nodded in agreement. They both got up from the bench and headed for the Chinese restaurant down the street.

**Zell**

Zell had smiled all the way back to the hotel. Even though it was going on 3 AM and he was dead tired, he had made almost 200 bucks plus several phone numbers in one shift in tips. That wasn't even his paycheck which was expected in another 7 days. Tonight was a Friday night, he was new and gorgeous. Of course he'd do this well. Now that his money problem was solved for now, he could stress down a little bit. This money was his and no one was going to take it from him.

Having your own money felt good, being beautiful felt good, being wanted and envied by girls also felt good. He had never been flirted with as much in his life. And that one guy-what was his name again? Irvine? Yeah him. He was pretty hot.

What's happening to Zell? He's changing that's what. Changing into an adult who is starting to become aware of his surroundings. However, still the innocent high school boy is trapped deep down inside. Zell wondered if he could get rid of that loser once and for all.

Zell had made it back to the Owler Inn without any problems. He entered his keycard and headed toward the elevator. He held on tight to his bag which Val had given him to hold on to his new uniform. After a while of walking around in it in public he got used to it. And it felt natural like skin…Since there was no way around it he figured he may as well accept it. And that's how he defeated it.

Val loved him already and invited him back tomorrow night same time. He had said Saturday nights were even better than Friday nights because those were game nights for the campus' football team and there was also a rave.

It felt comfortable to be back in tennis shoes. But it would feel even better to take said shoes off and lie down in his queen sized bed. His elevator opened up and he stepped out into the corridor. He felt as though there was a shadow looming around him but when he turned back there was no one there.

He laughed at his state of paranoia. 'Pull it together Zell! You're just tired!' He pulled out his card key again to open the door to his room. His nervous sweaty palms were having difficulty holding on to the piece of plastic however and it fell to the carpeted floor. Zell cursed and bent down to pick it up, not noticing the shadow swiftly move behind him again. He went inside his room, threw his bag in the corner and plopped down on his bed. He immediately got stripped down to his underwear and wife-beater shirt and threw his clothes on the floor. He'd pick them up tomorrow, right now he wanted to just sleep for a few hours…or days.

He was right on the verge of sleep when all of a sudden

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! "ROOM SERVICE!"

"What the hell!?" Zell cried in annoyance. "I didn't order anything!" he whined at the door. God all he wanted was some sleep.

"You didn't order anything? That's strange. I got a call from this room," a voice on the other side of the door answered. The voice sounded familiar to Zell. He looked out of the peephole of the door in curiosity, but didn't see anyone standing in the hallway. Maybe they were really short. "If I could come in and have you sign a paper saying that the order was wrong I'll leave you to your privacy.

"Fine, I'll let you in." Zell frowned again and opened the door, not caring if he would be exposed in his half naked form. He was too exhausted to care right now. He was surprised to be met by familiar cold grey blue eyes staring at Zell's aqua blue ones in his doorway. "It's you…"

Squall stepped right in Zell's room confirming that Squall had definitely been invited in Zell's room. He was no longer wearing his hotel uniform. This was intentional for Zell's sake. "Nice to see you again, Ellie," Squall said.

Realization hit Zell all at once like a train. This man had been the second vampire to enter his life in the dark alley a few days ago. He recognized him because he was in regular clothes . He was also the bellboy who had shamelessly flirted with him in the lobby earlier today. "We didn't get a chance to fully introduce ourselves. Hello, my name is Squall." Squall held is hand out waiting for the shorter blond to shake it.

Zell stood shock still. This was bad. He had been found and he was unarmed. He doubted he would be able to grab an object fast enough and his only way out was being blocked by Squall. The scarred brunette tapped his foot impatiently and spoke again. "This is the part where you tell me your real name this time and we pick up where we left off earlier." Squall stepped towards Zell who took a step back automatically.

"You stay away from me or I'll scream!" Zell warned.

"Now, Zell that's no way to treat a guest," Squall pretended to be offended and concluded that he already knew Zell's name. Zell was shaking on the inside, but Squall could smell his fear.

"You're not a guest! You're not welcome get out!" Zell snarled.

"Oh but you're the one who invited me in, remember? I am the guest. Now it's time to entertain me," Squall explained.

Zell was desperate. The brunette vampire had tried to flirt with him just to kill him. Zell had rejected him and now he was back for revenge. The back of his legs were about to hit the bed. "Please don't bite me. I don't want to become a vampire," he pleased.

Squall smirked, and from Zell's view it was the creepiest thing he'd ever seen. It looked like this man had rarely ever smiled in his life and when he did it freaked you out. "Who said anything about "biting"? I just wanna have some fun…" Squall licked his lips.

Zell noticed that he didn't lick his lips in an "I'm thirsty give me your neck kind of way", it was more of an "I'm horny, open your legs" kind of way. Zell scowled. That was the most disgusting thing he had ever heard of. There's no way that would be happening EVER. Zell wasn't shy in letting Squall know that fact either. "You're a little too close," Zell warned.

The thought of screaming was long gone. Zell could handle this himself, he thought as he sized the vampire up and down. Squall laughed at the shorter boy. "If I start, there's no way you can stop me." With a swift lunge Squall threw himself at Zell in an attempt to pin him on his own mattress. Zell only had time to halfway move to his left, causing his shoulder to bump against the brunette's solid frame and bruising it. Squall had hit the edge of the bed, his claws had dug into cushiony fabric instead of warm flesh and when he withdrew them to attack again feathers from the filling of the bed flew around the room.

But Zell didn't care because he had accomplished getting around the attack and running towards the door. He had only made two steps when he had been tripped by Squall's booted foot and landed harshly on the hard carpeted floor with an "oof". Zell scrambled to his dresser that was beside the door on his hands and knees. He grabbed the bottom drawer's handle just in time to be grabbed by the ankle. "Such beautiful feet," Squall gently commented.

But the gentleness was gone because Squall was fierce in dragging Zell's whole body weight towards him. Zell's left side was burning from being dragged against carpet like that. As Squall pulled him the whole drawer came out of the dresser and Zell slammed it into the side of Squall's head thwarting the brunette's next move as he rolled to the side holding his temple in agony. "FUCK! You little brat!" he yelled.

Zell ignored the insults and pain and pretty much flew to the corner where he had left his belongings and money. He grabbed his shoes and was out the door leaving his stunned attacker on the ground in pain. He ran down the hall and flew down the emergency stairs regarding the elevator as a snail. He had escaped once again.

**Squall**

Squall rolled over on his side and opened both of his eyes. The pain was gone just a few minutes later but there was a bruise and a trickle of blood on the side of his face.

He got up to his feet and followed his nose to the scent of lilacs. He ran down some stairs and out of the front doors of the empty lobby. The blond was nowhere in sight, but Squall could clearly smell him. He crossed the street and ran for almost a mile before the smell became overwhelming. Zell must have stopped and hid somewhere. To his right was a dark alley. Hadn't that boy learned not to go down alleys at night by now?

Before he could even set foot in the alley a dark figure blocked his path. A tall muscular one with a large trench coat. "Didn't I tell you you'd fall flat on your ass?" Seifer sneered. "Or as my sources tell me right on your back and then rolled on your side." Seifer's laughter rang through the night.

"I'm not done yet," Squall growled through rasp breaths from running all over Deiling city looking for his victim.

"Actually I think for tonight you are done. And now begins your date with me." Seifer brandished his gunblade.

Squall sized his rival up and down. "Fine, I'll make sure you die before the sun comes up," he declared.

**Seifer (earlier)**

Zell ran down the street from the hotel. He didn't look back once to see if Squall was chasing him, because he already knew the answer. They wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted. Zell felt sickened as he was reminded of what Squall had actually wanted. As he ran more thoughts came to his mind. Is that the same thing Seifer wanted? Is that why Seifer had been chasing him for the past 2 months?

Zell stopped running and hid behind a building. He fought for air into his lungs as he held onto his knees to support his upper body. He dropped his bag and pondered his next move. Where would he go now? What was the name of the next town? He had been found in less than 3 days this time. He was starting to lose hope.

But there was hope around every corner, even if you don't believe it. One of hope's arms had reached around the corner and seized Zell. He was pulled into a dark alley leaving his bag behind. He was going to yell but a large clawed hand covered his mouth. He knew that hand anywhere. The hard body pressed up against his backside also gave away identity

"I'm assuming you can guess who I am, Chicken?" A deep voice vibrated through Zell and sent chills down his spine.

His mouth was released "Yeah. I know it's you, Seifer. So I guess you finally caught me huh? Now you're going to kill me? Or are you going to do the other thing?" Zell asked nervously.

Seifer turned Zell around to face him, who automatically looked down at the pavement. Zell remembered what happened last time he looked into the vampire's eyes. "So you finally figured it out then? I guess I should be grateful to Squall for that," Seifer sneered.

"Please, just stop talking and get it over with."

"I can't." Zell looked up at Seifer's staring green eyes for the first time. "You're injured. You need to go to the hospital," Seifer explained calmly. The blond vampire rubbed Zell's bruised shoulder soothingly. When his hands found their way all the way down to the short blond's hip and almost around to squeeze his-Zell blushed and jerked away. Seifer was grateful for that. He didn't know how long he could hold off not touching Zell. He was already painfully hard right now just from looking at him blush and in his pajamas. Zell was practically half naked and he expected Seifer not to touch him?

"Um Seifer, if it even matters to you or not, I don't want-"

"You're absolutely right, it's not about what you want, Chicken," Seifer interrupted. "I'm giving you a break this time. But my generosity streak will end after tonight. You're going to the hospital tonight, to get better and when you run off like you always do, I'm going to find you like I always do, and then I'm going to take what I want whether you like it or not, Chicken."

"Stop calling me that!"

Seifer smirked "I only say it because you look like one, and because you're always running away. But soon you're going to learn that it's pointless to run away, Chicken. You can't hide from me. And to make sure that I'm the only one who ever has you, I'll kill anyone who stands in my way or tries to protect you, understand? Even the little prat who couldn't hold you down earlier. After tonight this will be the last time I ever have to save you from him."

Zell shifted uncomfortably. It seemed the blond vampire enjoyed watching him squirm under his gaze. Zell was at a loss for words, so the only thing he could say was, "Umm…thanks I guess."

"You'll be thanking me in more than one way soon, don't worry." Zell blushed again. "You're cute when you blush," Seifer teased. "This is Fujin by the way." A skinny pale girl with an eye patch and silver hair appeared from behind Seifer. "She's going to make sure you get to the hospital safely.

As Fujin approached the short blond, Zell noticed that she had his bag on her shoulder. "Ummm, hi there," Zell said. She remained silent and grabbed him by the arm and led him to the hospital. Zell looked back at Seifer one last time, but he was gone.

**A/N: Sorry it has been forever since I've updated. But I don't have a busy life anymore so now I can get back to writing.**

**Problem: I accidently replaced the fourth chapter of this story with the third and the file was on my old computer so…yeah its gone until I decide to make a new one.**

**Thanks for your reviews and staying with me. I promise I'll end this story far into maybe it's early twenties.**


	6. Escorts

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make matters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break? **

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references. **

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell (others to come)**

**A/N: W00T!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 6: Escorts**

**Fu**

Fujin escorted Zell to the hospital and on the way there they had an interesting conversation. Although Zell did most of the talking.

"So how do you know that vampire back there?" Zell asked as they walked underneath the streetlights.

"…"

"O…kay then…are you a vampire?"

"NO."

"You're human?"

"…" Her silence meant that she thought that was a stupid question.

"I see…well I think it's weird he hired a human to be his assistant…" Zell said curiously.

Fujin thought it was weird that Zell was still a virgin after this long. Now she understood why Zell was being chased by two male vampires. He had a great body, and quite feminine features that could describe him as "desirable". He was also blond by nature although a dyed black haired boy now. Fujin looked for something despicable about him, but him walking around Deiling city in nothing but pajamas made that a little difficult. He was pretty much perfect in some people's eyes. There were his looks that looked like he could glow in even the darkest of nights. Then there was his attitude that seemed as if he could sleep with the entire football team and have every single one of the players begging for more. But he didn't and Fujin could tell. "…" Fujin's reply was silence.

"You're a real talker you know?" Zell commented sarcastically. He rolled his eyes. "Where'd you come from anyway?"

"…"

"Wow. It must have been really quiet there." They arrived at the hospital and Zell was almost through the automatic doors when he realized he was walking alone. "You're not coming with me?"

"MUST HEAD BACK."

"Oh yeah I forgot, you're going to help that man rape me. Well thanks for walking me," Zell replied. He turned but was stopped when Fujin said something. (Yelled something rather …. --;)

"CHICKEN! ALWAYS RUNNING AWAY FROM PROBLEMS INSTEAD OF FACING THEM." Zell turned around slowly and was ready to give the silver haired girl a piece of his mind, but she continued. "SEIFER OBSESSED. YOU TORTURE. LIKE TEASING A DOG WITH STEAK…" She finished with malice.

Zell glared at her. "You're saying I'm the bad guy then, aren't you? Well let me tell you something, Cyclops. It's not my problem that that man-

"SEIFER!"

Zell rolled his eyes at the red eyed girl. "Fine whatever- _'SEIFER'_ is obsessed with me. I didn't ask him to chase after me and I'm not a piece of steak like you say that I am! I didn't ask for any of this! All I wanted was a normal life! My summer vacation is FUCKED! And you're saying it's my fault that Seifer can't get laid? If he were a real man he would be able to catch me in the first place. Then…the other one…he…You…" Zell was stressed obviously, so he lost his train of thought. "You know what!? Give Seifer this message: Tell him that if he tries to come after me I'll be taken!" Zell snatched his bag from Fujin this time and didn't look back at her.

She watched his back retreat into the white building. "STUPID CHICKEN…"

**Squall**

The two vampires huffed and puffed in the dark alley out of breath and sweating heavily. The sun was coming up and they both knew they would have to end their battle now. Vampires were allowed to walk around in daylight. But one thing they didn't do as far back as history could reach was fight while the sun came up. Reason one: they could be seen by humans. Reason 2: The one who lost would go down in history as "dying in the daylight".

"Saved by the sun," Squall commented and put his Lionheart gunblade away. Squall could be as just a cocky bastard as Seifer was in truth. He was born into the kingdom of vampires after all.

"I guess I don't need to tell you to stay away from him now do I?" Seifer asked.

"Correct. I don't need to tell you to fuck off either, do I?"

"Nope…"

"Then I guess we'll meet again," Seifer concluded.

"Yes, but before that. I have a question."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"What does that boy mean to you? You've been after him a long time I hear. And they way you look at him…do you two have a history?"

Seifer frowned at the scarred vampire. "I thought you only had a question. That was two. Now get the fuck out of here before I chop your nose of for poking where it doesn't belong."

Squall grunted and walked away into the busying street.

His method of force hadn't worked on Zell tonight, and his method of suave hadn't worked out too well earlier that day either…Maybe it was time to approach Zell in the way that he would court his princess.

Because that's basically what Zell was to him: His Princess…and soon to be Queen once his father, King Laguna, had fallen from the throne. Squall would make it so that Zell never had to run away again. He could come back to the palace and live with his family and lack for nothing. At the same time giving Squall lots and lots of children. Could this be the reason why Zell rejected Squall so harshly?

It had to be. Zell was blond. So that means he wanted someone who had money and power. Squall had plenty of that, and when Squall showed him that, things would fall into place like they were supposed to.

**Zell**

After Zell had been treated in the emergency room, the Doctor had given him special ointment for his rug burn. It turned out that if he had "slid down the carpeted stairs" any faster, he would have needed a skin grafting. He had been given painkiller and muscle relaxant for his bruised shoulder as well, the doctor had stared suspiciously at the "football injury".

This boy hadn't looked like he touched a ball in his life. The doctor had asked a lot of questions, about his injuries because it looked like another human being intentionally gave them to him. Why did people think doctors were idiots?

When the session was over the doctor told Zell to get a ride from the hospital. Zell called the one and only person whom he knew would pick him up and get him far enough from Deiling. He just hoped they wouldn't be mad at him for calling at 8 in the morning. Zell keyed in the phone number and on the third ring a deep western voice picked up.

"Yellur?"

"Hey, Irvine? It's me Ellie, from club Incubus." Somehow Zell knew the other boy was smiling on the other end of the phone.

"The hottie who likes hot dogs," he said reminiscently. "I was wondering when you'd call. What can I do yous for?"

"I was hoping you could come and pick me up. I need a ride from Deiling."

"Sure, where you headed?"

There was silence. Zell hadn't really thought about the next location. He just knew that he wanted to get the hell out of here. "Ummm…"

"Hmmm…Well I'm over at Galbadia University right now in my dorm. Why don't I bring you back here and we can talk then?" Zell paused for a moment. Irvine took the silence as an offence. "I mean you don't have to if you don't want to, I just wanted to finally get to know you."

"No it's not that at all. Sorry I'm just a little tired. I'd love to go to your place. I'm at the Deiling City Hospital right now."

It was Irvine's turn to be silent now, but he wasn't as obvious about it like Zell had been. Why was Ellie at a hospital? "Okay then I'll be there in about 30 minutes."

"Okay I'll se you soon."

Zell hung up first leaving a confused boy on the other line. He moved away from the hospital phone to brood in a chair by the receptionist's desk. He was going to a man's apartment who he barely knew, he didn't know where he was going, money wasn't a problem anymore, but that was all it was for now.

Maybe when he went to Irvine's, he could enroll in Galbadia University. He'd always wanted to go, but he never got a chance to apply because of what happened after graduation. It was settled then. He'd go on and pretend like his life wasn't at stake. He'd go to school.

He had been told that running was not the solution and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get away. Good thing Zell was a stubborn brat. He'd run til the very end even if it meant being called a Chicken. At least that's what he kept telling himself. Maybe deep down he knew he'd live his whole life running away unless he faced his fears.

Frankly another part of him didn't want to lose his virginity to something that wasn't human, and definitely not to someone he didn't love. Little did Zell know he would not only be losing something if he let that happen. He'd be gaining something as well.

**………**

The two boys drove in silence for a while with nothing but the light rock station to fill in the gap. Eventually the older of the two, that being Irvine broke the silence, "So why were you at the hospital if you don't mind me asking?"

Zell tried to think up a good lie. "Oh. Just a check up, my usual." Zell had covered up his bandages with a long-sleeved shirt. The last thing he needed was questions from the auburn haired man.

"I see. So did you enjoy yourself in Deiling?"

"Yeah it's fun there. Now that I work there I'll be there a lot."

"Hey you work in Deiling just like me now!" Irvine realized out loud, taking his eyes off the road momentarily. Now that they were talking Irvine decided to turn off the radio. "So do you have a place to stay?"

"Well I'm pretty sure I can find a decent motel some-" Zell had caught himself. "I mean apartment somewhere in Galbadia." For a minute there Zell was back in Nomad mode: Checking in at motels and hotels because he knew that he'd be gone in 2 days again.

"Well you're welcome to stay with me until you find one," Irvine offered.

Zell blushed. "That's very sweet of you," _'But if I stay with you, you might get murdered'_ is what Zell wanted to say. "But I think it would be best if I got my own place."

"Hm, I see," Irvine focused on the road and was obviously put off. Zell took notice of it but was at a loss of what to say, so instead he said nothing. Zell felt really bad about being so private with the auburn haired boy, but he didn't want anyone he met to get hurt. It became silent in the car again. This time completely because the radio wasn't on.

It seemed that Irvine was uncomfortable with silences. "So where are you from originally?" He asked.

"Oh just a small town called Balamb."

"Balamb? As in: Home of Balamb University?"

"The one and only," Zell chirped.

"You didn't by chance go to Balamb High School did you?"

"I sure did, graduating class of 07."

"I graduated from Galbadia High in 06. So I guess that makes you a freshman this year. I'm a sophomore who loves fresh meat," Irvine finished playfully.

"You could say that." Zell hadn't lied in a way. He _would _be a freshmen.

"So what brings you all the way here to Galbadian territory?"

"Well, I'll be starting school here soon, so I had to get a job. I heard they were hiring at club Incubus, so I applied and filled the server position. I'm going to use it to pay my way through school."

"Good idea. That's really good money. I'm sure a hottie like you has no problem making a couple hundred a night, huh?" Irvine prodded. Zell blushed because Irvine had hit that comment right on the head. "Sorry didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Anyway, what are you going to study as your major?"

"I was thinking I'd study something in veterinary medicine. I always did have a love for animals."

"Wow, that's really ambitious!" Irvine exclaimed. "I'm studying to become a pediatrician. I love children as much as you love animals I guess…"

"Neat. We need more doctors in this world. SMART doctors. Not ones who ask you a million dumb questions," Zell spat, remembering his visit with his doctor.

"Irvine chuckled. He give you a hard time? Next time just start sneezing non-stop. That'll get him out of the room. After all, doctors _do _hate germs." That made Zell laugh. He imagined sneezing all over the doctors shoes and office and watching him freak out. Even going so far as to make the doctor go into seizures with his germs. Apparently Zell's laughter was contagious, because Irvine began laughing at the steering wheel. Soon they were both laughing. At what? Who knew? Zell hadn't laughed in so long, he didn't want it to stop.

**Seifer**

Seifer saw Fujin approaching him as he finished resting up on a brick wall in the alley he had fought Squall in. "Is he okay?" He asked her.

"FINE."

"Are _you _okay?"

"COFFEE."

"Alrighty, then. Let's go grab some breakfast."

They sat in silence at a small diner. Seifer stared blankly out of the window while Fu sipped her black coffee and read a newspaper. Seifer was falling asleep in his chair until Fujin startled him awake.

"BEAST SIGHTING!" She exclaimed. People in the restaurant were staring again, but Seifer gave one harsh look in their direction and all at once they became interested in their breakfast.

"Beast sighting? Where?" He asked.

"CAMPUS," she replied. She turned the paper over to Seifer and showed him a drawing of a large two legged animal. "BULLSHIT," Fujin announced. "NO PIC, NO PROOF."

"Not necessarily, kiddo. You didn't know about vampires until you met me did you?" Fujin became quiet. "Let me let you in on something. Vampires aren't the only bit of evil out there. There are other… 'things' that walk around at night. Just because you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not out there."

"YOU'VE SEEN?" Fujin asked.

Seifer looked at the ceiling fan of the diner for a moment in thought. "The only other 'evil' species vampires usually come into contact with are werewolves."

"WEREWOLVES?"

"Aside from the political nonsense and territory/mating battles that you've seen thus far between vampires, let me tell you, it's far worse between vampires and werewolves. We've been at war with each other for centuries. It all started with some adultery shit that I'm not really too clear on back when people wore corsets, but whatever. All I know is that we hate werewolves and werewolves hate us. Remember when I told you that vampires want to mate to carry on their legacy?" Fujin nodded. "Well a werewolf's nature aint too different."

Fujin was deep in thought for a moment. "WHAT WILL YOU DO IF WE MEET ONE?"

"I'll probably kick its ass if it tries to start something. They're not the brightest race out there. They're savage and violent when they're human; ten times worse when they're beasts."

Seifer took another look at the sketch of the creature. Two legged, hairy, tall, wild, looked like a dog standing up only slightly deformed. And a snout that was long like a deadly icicle. This definitely confirmed Seifer's suspicions. And that was a bad thing.

**Zell**

"Wow," Zell exclaimed. "Nice campus."

"Yeah, but sometimes I get the feeling they're trying too hard," Irvine replied. Zell didn't know what to say to that. He really didn't care, because the place was amazing. Green grass, fresh air, large buildings, ANIMALS! It was like Irvine read Zell's thoughts. "Yeah, we're allowed to have pets. It costs a little extra, but the pets have almost every privilege the students due, aside from actually being allowed in the classrooms."

Zell laughed at that. That was something Irvine seemed to be good at, Zell noticed: Making him laugh. He wanted someone like that around all the time. He was a really nice guy too. There were big stone steps that led to the main entrance of the school. They began walking up them. Since Irvine's legs were longer he was taking bigger strides and ended up a few steps in front of Zell.

Zell took this moment to admire the backside of the older man. His auburn hair

that was wrapped in a pony tail glowed like fire in the sunlight. He had strong shoulders, that was for sure, and a very masculine back. Zell's eyes went lower and admired the man's- "You okay back there, Zell?" Zell was shocked out of his trance by the bigger man's voice.

What was he thinking? Ogling his new friend like he was a piece of meat. "Yeah

I'm okay." Irvine insisted on carrying Zell's book bag up to his room. "You don't have to do all this, Irvine."

Irvine stopped near the top of the steps and turned around to face Zell. Zell

stopped also. Irvine descended a few steps so that he'd be on the same stair as Zell, but he was still taller than the shorter boy. "Listen, Ellie. I know I've been making you feel a little uncomfortable at times. But one thing you need to know about me is that I'm a very affectionate guy, who's trying to make a good impression. The truth is I like you a lot, Ellie. And I'm really nervous. I've never met anyone like you. Ever since you walked into Gulladog." Zell swallowed really hard. He never had anyone tell him anything said to him like that before, _ever. _"The reason why I'm telling you this is because, when we go up to my room, which is all mine by the way, I don't want you feeling like I'm trying to get you into bed or anything. I want you to feel relaxed and just be my friend. " '_And maybe more,' _Irvine wanted to say.

Zell felt something at the pit of his stomach. Guilt? Yes. And something else but Zell couldn't recognize it. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, it's just, everything is so different for me now. I haven't spoken to my Ma' in almost two months. I think it's stress that has me so uptight, or maybe I need sleep…I don't know. Just excuse my behavior in advance. I really am waaay cooler than this," he explained.

Irvine smiled. "I know. I met that cool kid twice before today."

"I uhh…"

"You don't have to explain now. I understand."

Zell smiled and hugged the tall man. "Thank you, Irvine."

Irvine hugged back, fighting for his hands to not go lower on Zell's body. They were friends , so he would behave. "No sweat. Ready to see my room?"

"You bet!"

**A/N: W00T! two chapters in one month? I've not yet done that with this story. I told you I didn't give up! Thanks for staying with me thus far! TBC…**


	7. Nightmare

**A/N: Enjoy a Zell and Irvine dedicated chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 7: Nightmare**

_All the graduates of Balamb High School gathered around outside the parking lot, saying their goodbyes to friends, loved ones and so on. It was a warm day and the air was filled with the scent of salt water and fresh grass, like always. The town was basically just a harbor for fishing. If you looked at this scene from far away, all you would see is a huddle of blue robes scattered about everywhere, getting snacks, hugs, pictures and yearbook signings. Including one particular person._

_"Come here, Zelly. Let me hug you, I'm so proud of you," Ma Dincht cried. Zell had told his mom not to call him 'Zelly' in public. But the short tattooed blond was so high on accomplishment and glee that he really didn't care if his mom slipped up on the childhood name right now. He was just glad he made her happy. They hugged for a brief moment and Ma Dincht held his arms in hers. "Your father would be so proud."_

_"Thanks, Ma'. Do you think Ellie would be proud too?" Zell asked a little sadly._

_Ma' frowned slightly. "I'm sure she'd be the happiest dog alive if she were to see you now," she reassured, giving both his elbows a warm squeeze._

_"Thanks, Ma. I really miss her."_

_"Oh that's enough. Let's not talk about that here. I still need to take a picture of you in your cap and gown," she said pulling a small camera out of her purse._

_"Oh, fine, but not too many," Zell bargained._

_ Zell had taken pictures at various locations of the school's building. He had taken pictures with all of his friends as well. Little did he know these pictures would be the last memory his mom would have of him for a long, long tim.._

_The graduation ceremony was coming to an end and it was time to take a class photo, then throw that caps to the heavens. The picture would be taken with the students standing according to height, so Zell took his lucky spot in the front, while the taller kids stood behind on a step and an even taller third row stood far in the back. Most of the athletes had stood in the back and they weren't too happy about some of the shrimps being in the front._

"_Why do they get to be in front?" A football player whined. _

"_Yeah! It's not our fault the leprechauns forgot their stilts," a basketball player agreed out loud._

_Zell remained quiet, but a few of the other short seniors wouldn't have it. "Shut the fuck up, Owens, it's not our fault your mom fed you steroid wheaties when you were a kid either!"_

_A loud jeer erupted from the whole stand. "Oh Jesse got owned by someone from the chess club," a student to the right instigated. The school athletes' faces turned red and no one in the back said shit after that. Zell felt good now. Short people didn't deserve to be made fun of. _

"_Alright people break it up," Principal Kramer intervened. "You guys are adults and most of you are college bound. Start growin' up._

_The photographer was getting his expensive looking camera prepped for the photo ignoring all those 'damn teenager's' commotion. He was only here to get paid anyway. "Say cheese on 3," he announced dryly (He hated his job by the way)._

_Zell was lost in thought, and paid no attention to the photographer. Principal Kramer was right. It was time to grow up, Zell thought. He wondered what was out there waiting for him. He guessed he would go to college. Become a veterinarian. Yeah that's what he would do. For Ellie. His best friend in the whole world. The only one who never judged him, the first boy he ever loved, his loyal and faithful dog. Ellie who died from cancer of the heart._

_A cool deep voice sent shivers down Zell's spine. "Smile, you're so pretty when you smile." _

_Zell's eyes grew wide and he turned his head to see who was whispering things in his ear. He glared at one of the taller boys standing behind him. "What?" he asked innocently._

"_You know what," Zell whispered fiercely. "Stop fuckin' around."_

"_YOUNG MAN! Face the camera please!" The photographer shouted._

"_Oh yeah, sorry," Zell blushed._

"_Alright, brats. Say 'cheese'," he snarled._

"_CHEESE!!" The whole class chorused._

_**!Flash!**_

_**Later That Evening**_

_ Zell changed out of his formal-wear and lounged about for the rest of the day. Rain decided to pour that evening and it was relentless against the windows of Zell's small house. It was getting late so he decided that he'd take a shower and go to bed. In between his 20 minute soak in scolding water, Ma had come up and told him she was driving to the grocery store to get a few groceries._

_Zell got out of the shower and went to his room to change into his boxers and a white tank top. He was about to tuck himself in when there was a loud bang that came from downstairs. It had startled him, so he took a wooden bat with him just in case. This is why he hated staying home by himself. Anything could happen while his Ma was away. That was the perfect time monsters liked to come and eat little children._

_'I'm not a child!' Zell thought. Grow up! Zell descended the stairs slowly and peeked around the corner. Wind and rain was shooting into the back door, which connected to his kitchen. Zell's heart stopped racing. His Ma had forgotten to close the door that was all. He walked freely past his graduation certificate on the mantle and walked in the kitchen to shut it and locked it with one hand while his other loosely held the bat._

_No reason to be so jumpy, Zell. He was about to go back upstairs to his warm inviting bed, when all of a sudden he felt something cold and wet at the bottom of his bare foot. He looked down and saw muddy boot prints smearing against the tile of his kitchen floor and skin. Now his heart was racing. That wasn't his Ma's shoe size-_

_"Mph!" A large hand found its way around Zell's mouth and covered a scream that would have come. Someone had come into his house after all and they messed up Ma's floor with their muddy shoes, but more importantly was trying to kill Zell. He reacted on instinct and bit the unfortunate finger that dared slipped between his lips. A loud grunt came from the large frame that covered Zell's small one. Zell turned around and took a swing with his bat. He was hoping to hear the sound of a broken skull and teeth flying out hitting the wall form the bastard who dared try to burgle him._

_But all he got was a broken bat in return. Zell was met with a cold green gaze and scrunched up bridge of a well defines nose. Blond slicked back hair reflected off of the tall man's skull from the 60 watt kitchen light bulb. He wore a long grey trench coat that flowed around his form perfectly. His clothes were wet from being outside in the rain, and his firm body showed through his sleeveless shirt. Zell stood a safe enough distance away in his living room with the pathetic piece of wood still in his hand. The intruder took the other half and threw it to the side harshly. "You could have really hurt me like that, little boy." He spoke with an emotion that Zell couldn't place, but had definitely heard before._

_Zell's half of the broken bat had turned into a steak fortunately. It had gone from blunt ass kicking object to deadly piercing weapon that he would use if he had to. "What do you want? Leave before I call the cops!" He ordered._

_"The police can't stop me. No one can stop me. You can defend yourself pretty well, I suppose. But in the end I'm still going to get what I want, so why resist?" the man declared arrogantly. Zell knew where he heard that voice: Today at his graduation._

_"Well you're gonna have to get what you want from someone else's house," Zell barked. Who did this guy think he was? Zell just hoped this thief hadn't come with a gun or something. That would be bad. But he'd stall for as long as he could._

_The blond man scratched his hair and appeared to be in deep thought for a moment. "But I can't get what I want from any body else. I picked you from a large crowd of people, Zell."_

_Zell's heart almost stopped. "How do you know my-"_

_"My name is Seifer by the way," the man cut in. "And I'm not a thief. You could say I'm an animal, a murderer, or the devil himself, but don't degrade me by thinking I'm some sort of vagabond. You're special because only you can give me what I want."_

_Zell's curiosity was piqued, although his mood had been frightened a little bit more when he found out the person standing in front of him was a killer. "And exactly what is this special "something" that you want?"_

_"I want you to give me life, Zell. Your life and a new one." Zell had no time to respond. Seifer had pounced on him in no time, fangs bared and all. Zell had managed to make Seifer impale himself onto the wooden steak, but he was relentless since it had only pierced his shoulder. Seifer straddled Zell's small hips but raised his upper body to sit straight up, the piece of wood standing erect._

_Zell had put his hands in front of his body to defend himself as if he were going to be beaten on the floor. His lower body struggled to get from underneath the man that was crushing him with his weight. Seifer grabbed the butt of the steak and pulled it out of his shoulder in one tug, blood splashing all over Zell's arms, hair, skin and surrounding carpet of the living room. "You shouldn't have done that, you Wuss." Zell's eyes widened as he realized his opponent wasn't even human. _

_Seifer grabbed Zell's hair and pulled exposing his neck all the while still dripping blood all over Zell's body. Zell screamed in pain and fear and struggled for the man to get off of him. "Get the fuck off of me you creep!" he yelled. With fury Zell slammed his knee into his attacker's groin._

_"Ouch!! You little fucker! Get back here!" The wind was knocked out of Seifer who rolled around on the floor comforting his "jewels". Zell had scampered away, but slipped on the linoleum floor of his kitchen from the mud that Seifer had tracked in. He was trying to get to the cordless phone but the floor was so slippery on his bare feet and legs. Seifer took this opportunity rightfully. _

_Recovering from his blow to the groin quickly and efficiently, he walked over to the scared shitless form that was Zell. "I'm not scared of you!" Zell buried his face into the corner of the sink cabinet on the floor not wanting to show the fear on his face. Whatever was going to happen would happen since Zell could not beat the older man. He was on the verge of tears. Seifer could see it coming and his hard demeanor softened somewhat. _

_Seifer knelt down on one knee and gently touched the smaller boy's bruised leg hating himself the whole time. "Hey, I was just having some fun. Don't cry. It doesn't suit you. Look, I just wanted to-_

_**!BANG!**_

"_Ah! FUCK!" The monster had been shot in the shoulder and instantly repelled away from his prey. He hissed to the doorway and found a police officer aiming a still smoking gun at him._

"_Back away from the minor, mister!" Seifer glared at the officer and ran up to him, slitting his jugular throat muscle so fast with his black talons, Zell didn't realize what he had just seen until the officer slumped to the floor choking on his own blood. The vampire turned around and looked at Zell who was shaking in the corner tears of terror streaming down his face from listening to the gurgling sounds of blood. He didn't look at the uniformed man dying. He didn't dare look into the officer's dying eyes, because he couldn't do shit but sit there and shake._

_Seifer licked the blood off of the claws he used to penetrate the officer's throat; the whole time keeping his green gaze on Zell. "That's how easy it is for me, Chicken. Don't underestimate me, because I will be back." With astonishing speed he slammed out of the window of the living room leaving nothing but shattered glass and a blood sample behind._

_The door of his kitchen burst open and two more officers came rushing in, guns at the ready. They were too late to avenge their already fallen comrade, but when they saw the muddy and bloody traumatized form huddled in the corner who just witnessed his first murder, they rushed to his aid immediately. Their alert had lowered when they realized it wasn't the young boy's blood, but his attacker's._

_The neighbors had heard commotion earlier, so they called the police. Pretty soon they'd want a statement from the minor about their dead co-worker and the attacker. As soon as Zell gave it, he'd be out of Balamb. Because like Seifer had said: He'd be back. The cops thought they had good reason to believe the kid had gone crazy when he described the killer as a vampire. The more Zell described "Seifer", the more he sounded like someone out of some fantasy videogame._

_Something Seifer left plenty of was blood. CSI knew from a first glance that the blood sample from the window was immensely coagulated, which meant that the person who attacked Zell had already been dead. The police gave each other and Zell questioning looks after that piece of information had been revealed. The cops wanted to find the trail of blood the newly confirmed "vampire" had left behind, but little did they know, he healed fast and the rain that night: it seemed like it was there only to wash away the evidence. Zell knew he wasn't hurt. The monster had taken a large stake to the shoulder. Zell knew he'd come back…_

**The Present**

Zell woke up to the smell of steamed food and a news reporter's voice. He sat up in a warm mattress with an unfamiliar scent. How long had he napped in Irvine's bed? "Hey, you're awake!" the said man explained.

"How long was I out?" Zell asked, sleep still on his tongue.

"Let's see…you went to sleep around ten-ish and it is now one thirty. That's a nice little nap I'd say."

It wasn't nearly enough to make up for the sleep the black leather clad vampire had taken from Zell. "Yep," he lied, a little annoyed that certain memories still haunted him. He was even more annoyed that he realized how late he was in discovering Seifer's true intentions. He wanted sex. Zell was still confused by what he meant when he said _'I want you to give me life, Zell. Yours and a new one.' _He decided he'd only frustrate himself if he thought about it too hard. Besides he was company to Irvine right now.

"I'm making something to eat. Care for a bite?" Irvine offered.

Zell's stomach agreed with the smell in the air. "You wouldn't be making hotdogs would you?"

"Yeah. I wasn't sure of what to make, but I knew you liked those so I thought I'd make some." Zell sprang off of the bed and dashed past Irvine and into his kitchen in the blink of an eye. "Well it's nice to know you already know your way around my dorm," Irvine commented.

When they got to Irvine's house earlier that morning, he gave Zell the grand tour. There was a small kitchen to the left when you first walk in. The living room was the best part: Irvine had a flat screen T.V. and nice peach furniture (two couches and a recliner). To the right was the bedroom which had one queen sized bed and Irvine's room also had its own bathroom. Irvine hadn't shown Zell his room right away, because he still didn't want the short raven haired boy to think he was a player. But to his surprise Zell had asked if he could lay down somewhere because he was tired.

Irvine had insisted that Zell lay down in his bed. He resisted at first but then realized he might offend Irvine if he didn't. "Mind if I make my own plate?" Zell asked.

"Sure," Irvine answered watching him run around from cabinet to cabinet finding all the right toppings for his food. He got his beverage and headed towards the table in the living room, Irvine following close behind.

"You know you have a really nice place by the way," Zell commented between mouthfuls. "I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier because I was so tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Thanks. Why not? Did something happen?" Pulling up a chair across from Zell and watching him eat.

"Well, uh…the hotel I was at was pretty noisy so…"

"Where were you staying in Deiling before?"

"Oh "here and there". Just hotel-hopping, I wanted to see the town," Zell answered as naturally as possible.

"Eh-heh," Irvine grunted not believing Zell's lie.

It grew silent at the table. "So can I make you a plate?" Zell asked.

"I ate earlier while you were asleep," Irvine replied.

"Okay," Zell wanted to make himself useful for Irvine. "So how did you get to room by yourself? Are you an honors student?"

"Something like that. Let's just say I know the dean very well," Irvine said mysteriously.

Zell understood what Irvine was doing, he was being mysterious because he felt that Zell was hiding things. He finished his plate and rubbed his flat tummy. "That was amazing," he said dreamily.

Irvine could give Zell another reason to make him say that phrase, but decided to hold off. "I'm glad you liked it," Irvine said.

"So what do you do for fun around campus?"

_"We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin," _a female announcer on the T.V. interrupted the two boys' conversation.

"Hey that's Galbadia University on T.V." Irvine observed.

_"I'm Eliza Faussel with channel 6 Galbadia news. There have been several beast sightings around the Galbadian continent. The sightings range from Winhil, all the way to Dollet and anything in between. Here is an image of the savage like monsters."_

A sketch of a two legged bear appeared on the screen of Irvine's television. Zell looked at it sideways and noticed that it looked like a deformed dog.

_"We have shown these drawings to scientists and the footprints have been observed by local environmentalists. The footprints do not match any species known to human knowledge and it has been taken into account that these new monsters may even be the famous mythological creatures 'werewolves'._

Zell flinched. _'But another theory is that it may also be the missing link: BIGFOOT. No news on whether this is just a rumor, stray bears, or a state of emergency, but we ask the folks at home to heed caution when walking alone at night, because it seems that most claims of these sightings are reported to have happened at night . That concludes our channel 6 announcement. I'm Eliza Faussel, have a nice day…" _The regular program resumed.

"Werewolves?" Zell asked comically.

"They'll say anything to keep the action going on campus," Irvine responded. "It's probably just wild bears roaming around."

"Well thanks for lunch. I'm going to see if I can register for class," Zell said.

"Need company?"

"Yeah, I could use someone to show me around the school," Zell answered.

The two boys left Irvine's dorm and walked down the long hallways of the dormitory. There were lots of boys hanging around studying, and playing sports in the halls. Irvine walked as though he were used to doing this sort of thing every day. Zell was just trying to avoid everything from paper airplanes to flying footballs.

"The craziness takes some getting used to by the way," Irvine said when they had gotten on the stairwell that led to the classrooms.

Zell hadn't imagined that Galbadia University was so big. It had everything. It had its own building just for scientific research and chemistry. It also had another building just for the pre-vet students and that's where they kept all the little animals like doggies, kitties, and even farm animals like chicken and pigs. Zell was really excited when he got to see the animals, so Irvine had trouble getting him away from the pre-vet building.

They made their way into the library which reminded Zell of the one in Beauty and the Beast. He wasn't really into books that much, but it was nice to know that he would have recourses if he needed them.

"This is where you register for classes," Irvine commented.

Zell made his way over to one of the computers and prepared to enter his information. "This may take a while," Zell said. "You don't have to wait for me."

"You're probably right. Do you work tonight?"

Zell had forgotten that he had to work tonight. His blondness was showing. "Yes," he stated 'matter-of-factly' like he didn't forget.

"Well tonight's the rave at Incubus. I was gonna watch the football game with a few friends, too. Do you need a ride?"

Zell turned to face Irvine at the other computer. "I'd appreciate it." Zell looked into Irvine's eyes for the first time. They were a beautiful aqua color. Not as light colored as Zell's, but dark and troubled. Like a rock star who wanted his biggest fan to be his mate. For the first time Zell felt like he could trust someone. He had a new friend. A friend who was a really nice guy.

Irvine had left the shorter raven haired boy to himself in the large library. When he was done typing his information into the computer it read:

Name: Ellie Anderson

D.O.B.: March 17, 1989

Sex: M

Hometown: Deiling

Student I.D.: 829934

**TBC…**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They really keep me going! By the way you won't know who Zell's going to actually settle down with later on in the story. It may **_**look **_**like it's going to be Irvine, but it might not be. In this story you will need to expect the unexpected because I have it pretty much mapped out now.**


	8. Rave

**Warnings: Vampires, explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**A/N: I liked writing this chapter specifically because of Squall. He's an intriguing character when he wants to be! Thank you for your reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 8: Rave**

**Squall**

Squall walked down the marble corridors of his palace at a slow leisurely pace. It was his father's marble palace actually…In fact the scarred man was on his way to see his father right this second. He had left Deiling reluctantly when he got the message to see King Laguna. That's part of the reason why he was so annoyed right now. When and underling of the palace came to Squall with a letter saying that he was to report home, he knew already what the conversation would ensue.

He opened the doors to the library that was on the top floor. This was where his father wanted to speak to him at. His footsteps were just muffled boots as he walked through the giant shelves of the bibliotheca towards the back. He made his way over to his occupied father who was sitting in a cushiony chair reading a book in the home and garden section. "Father," Squall announced his presence.

Laguna looked up from the book he was reading and a toothy smile appeared on the older man's face. "Squall! My son you're home!" King Laguna was a fierce ruler, but a lousy father in Squall's eyes. He kept his jet black hair tied back and sported emerald green robes.

He didn't always dress this elegantly. In fact he was more like Squall in his teenage years than the newly scarred man would like to have agreed with. "You wanted to see me?" Squall asked casually, already killing the mood of Laguna being reunited with his son after so many months. There was a time when the king wore form fitting styled clothes suite for a warrior, and liked to embark on journeys to find his mate too.

"Ah, yes. I guess that means you want me to get right to the point then…" Well it has been nearly three months since the proposal of the Heartily clan and the Leonheart clan joining as one has been made. King Carway and Princess Rinoa have grown very impatient in hearing from your response. It seems if they don't get an answer from you soon, they will marry into our family as they so rightfully should by force."

"You're wrong father. I've already chosen someone to marry and it will not be that spoiled brat Rinoa," Squall spat the girl's name. He had not liked her since their parents introduced them at a formal gathering one winter ago. Squall was mortified when his father had suggested marriage as a way to promote business between the two families.

Laguna cocked a bushy eyebrow. "Oh really? And what clan of demon does this maiden belong to? Surely the Carway kingdom would like to know who has caught the eye of the heir to the Loires."

Squall was going to enjoy playing this torture game with his father. "My mate does not belong to a clan, and I don't think you call a boy virgin a 'maiden'."

Laguna was one step away from raising out of his comfy seat. "Are you saying that you've chosen a male to be your-your y-

"Princess?" Squall taunted.

"No! You can't!" Laguna whined.

"Father, I told you that I would marry when I found someone to have my child. Now that I finally have you want to snatch it away from me?"

Laguna finally stood up hoping it would help his son see reason. "Squall, you're not supposed to marry humans. Where did I go wrong in teaching you how the two worlds work? 'Humes are only cattle for children and sustenance. We do not marry livestock.' Have you ever heard of a farmer marrying a cow? No! You milk its tits and feed your family. There's not much difference in our society!"

Squall stood there listening to his father rant. His father was yelling in their library. He was going to speak, but when Laguna continued he fell back into his respectful listening mode. Laguna continued, "Have you even asked this boy for your hand in marriage? Does he know what you are or what you want from him? Squall I want you to look at this reasonably: How do you know that he will even live after he has given birth? He's a boy, remember? A woman surviving after birthing what they call a monster is more common than a boy doing so."

"I have not yet proposed and when I do he will not dare say no. I believe I'm man enough to make him mine. He knows what I am and he knows what I want." Squall stopped and corrected himself. "He _sort of_ knows what I want. He doesn't know I can get him pregnant. The chance of him surviving isn't as slim as you think. Have you read the demonic research of today: Humans are becoming more resistant to the effects of breeding from demons everyday. One last thing, please stop calling him "that boy" His name is Zell, father and his smile is brighter than the sun.

Laguna was in shock. Even when his son was a reclusive child he had never heard him sound more infatuated with a person than he did right now. "Squall, you just sounded like…"

Squall was slightly amused by his father's expression, but not so much when he realized he was truly at a loss for words. "What?"

"Nothing. Memories just came back from when I knew your mother…" Vampires can't fall in love, Laguna convinced himself. What was he thinking?

Squall looked at the red carpeted floor. The silence between the two men was awkward even for a library. Squall's mother was a touchy subject.

"So when do I get to meet Zell," Laguna asked sitting back down in his chair.

It seemed as though the conversation had taken an extreme turning point. Was Laguna going into recession on the topic? "I would like you to meet him, father. I want your approval." Although Squall would always think Laguna wasn't much of a father, having missed the first 8 years of his son's life, he still respected him as a man and a king. He still wanted his father's approval of Zell and whether the hume was marriage material. If he approved of the tart Rinoa, he'd approve of Zell right? The only thing Rinoa had that Zell didn't was money, a castle, and an army. Although the two did seem to share the same stuck up demeanor, now that Squall thought about it. "I will bring him here to the Esthar nation when he's in his second trimester of pregnancy. After the child is born, we will marry," Squall concluded.

"I see. Well it seems that I can't talk you out of this, no matter what it will do to your reputation or my own. I don't think there has ever been a hume prince or princess. Plenty of hybrids out there, but never this. You know it will take a while for our society to get used to, right?"

"I'm aware of everything. I've thought long and hard on this," Squall declared.

"It seems you have, son. I only want you to be happy." Laguna rose from his seat and approached his son. He pulled him into a hug. It took a while for Squall to respond to the hug, since he wasn't used to this sort of thing from anyone, especially his father. "We need to do that more often," Laguna decided aloud.

"Having a father like you, that comes as no surprise," Squall responded and stepped back from the embrace.

Laguna ignored the comment. Deep down inside he knew Squall was right. "I'll try to stall the Carway kingdom for as long as I can. Be warned, though they aren't patient people."

"Yes father." The meeting was over and weight lifted from Squall's shoulders. He was relieved that he didn't have anything to prove for a while. Before he could leave though, his father had stopped him.

"One last question," the older man requested. "What happened to your face?"

"Long story."

**Irvine**

Zell encountered a few familiar faces at Irvine's car in the student parking lot: The kids from last night at Club Incubus. The blonde girl who Irvine had introduced as Quistis and her boyfriend Nida. Quistis was blonde on the outside, but her personality was very anti-blondish, although she did have the green eyed monster to go with her hair, even though her actual eyes were blue. She didn't smile at Zell once and instead of shaking his hand when Irvine introduced them, she gave a curt nod instead. Uptight much?

Her boyfriend Nida was Japanese, and had a wiry, yet firm body. Zell remembered Nida hitting on him the first night he waited their table. "Hey, you're that hot waiter from Incubus!" He exclaimed.

"I told you his name was _Ellie_," Irvine scolded Nida.

"Yeah, yeah." Nida turned back to Zell. "He hasn't shut up about you, ya know. You must put out pretty well."

Zell's eyes grew wide. "Excuse me?"

"Dude, shut up. You're being rude." Irvine barked. The auburn haired boy was stressed out and obviously embarrassed.

Then there was Irvine's 'Just friend' Selphie. Selphie still held that same glare she had for Zell the other night. She was wearing a short sleeveless blue denim jumper-dress. Her black suede boots reached below her knee caps giving lots of attention to her thighs, which were pretty thin in Zell's opinion. Did she eat…ever? And her outfit was very revealing for it being almost fall.

It was obvious she dressed provocatively for Irvine's sake. Zell was amused how blind the guy was for not noticing that Selphie liked him

"You remember Selphie right, Ellie?" Irvine asked.

"Yes, nice to see you again," Zell lied.

"Irvine's told us so much about you!" She changed her entire attitude when Irvine's attention was focused on her and Zell at the same time. "I have a feeling we're going to be best friends!"

Zell gulped. "Me too."

After all the introductions had been made, they got into Irvine's car.

"I didn't notice you were a student here. What year are you?" Quistis asked as she opened the rear door for herself, Nida, and Zell.

"I'm a freshman. I just enrolled today," Zell replied as he was about to get into the backseat of the car.

Zell knew the girls didn't like him but he was polite anyway. Three could play that game. "Hey, Ellie what are you doing? Don't you want to sit in the front with me?" Irvine asked.

Selphie's eyes grew wide. "But I always sit in the front!" she cried. She caught herself really quick. "I mean- you can sit in the front, Ellie. I don't mind."

Zell actually didn't mind sitting in the back. However, Irvine wanted him to sit in the front, and if he could make Selphie as uncomfortable as possible without trying, that would be cool too. They switched seats and drove out of the parking lot and were soon on the free way.

Nida was as playful as ever with Quistis in the backseat. They wanted sit together. Nida was constantly trying to make out with Quistis, but she pushed him off and told him to cut it out each time. She was very conservative. It seemed weird that she would shut her boyfriend down like that. She couldn't be any more than 18 but she was acting like she was 30.

When Nida had gotten bored with trying to coax Quistis in to tonsil hockey, he turned his attention to the front seat. "So are you two dating?" he asked.

Zell answered "no", but Irvine answered "almost", making things a little awkward in the car.

"I see," Nida thought. "Hey, Selphie what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," She answered between clenched teeth. Zell was facing forward when she answered. But he looked into the rear-view mirror and could see Selphie fuming red in her seat. Zell giggled to himself.

"Turn on some music," Selphie commanded. Irvine flicked on the radio and 'Sex Bomb' by Tom Jones played. Aside from the tension between the girls and Zell, he was feeling more relaxed than he had been in a while. If he was surrounded by people at work, which he expected he would be because of the game, it would be easier to keep his identity covered in the crowd. Tonight would be a vampire-free night...hopefully.

The car ride went smoothly for the most part. When they parked their car in the parking lot the day was coming to an end. The sun was going behind the mountains and cast an orange-reddish hue on the busy city called Deiling.

Zell took another moment to check out Irvine's masculine backside as they walked on the sidewalk. He wore a sleeveless navy blue vest that showed his muscles and his curly red chest hairs. He wore tight blue jeans that hugged his nice firm-

"Holy shit! Look at this line!" Nida complained, interrupting Zell's thoughts. Nida was right. The line was three times worse than it was last night when Zell first came to work.

"Well it's a good thing I work here then isn't it?" Zell asked. "Wait here guys. I'll have us in in no time." Zell jumped the whole line leaving his friends.

"So I see we're dating the local club employees huh, Irvine?" Nida asked.

Irvine jabbed him in the stomach for being an idiot. "I was just helping a friend, that's all," he explained.

"He seems alright," Quistis said. "A little shy but I guess that's a freshmen for you."

"Irvine would never date a freshman," Selphie reassured herself more than anybody else, earning her a few odd looks.

"That chick is too hot anyway. I bet he'll have more than one boyfriend by the end of the first semester," bet Nida.

"Chick?" Zell asked as he returned to the group knowing that he was being talked about.

Nida a blushed guiltily but Selphie got really proud at the moment. "That's what we call sluts around campus," Selphie answered. "But since you aren't one, you should have nothing to worry about, right?"

Zell didn't show how insulted he was by that comment. "Right." Everyone thought he was some sort of whore apparently, and it was making Zell a little uneasy. "Anyway, I got the bouncer Raijin to let us in so shall we get going?" He asked dejectedly.

The group of five entered the club and Zell wasn't surprised to see it was more crowded than last night. The rave had already started and the club was banging. Particularly the dance floor, and the disco ball on the ceiling was spinning wildly. He had to work soon so he decided he'd part with his group and go change.

Zell went to the locker room and changed into his skimpy uniform. That's when Val came around the corner scaring Zell half to death. "Zell, my boy! Why so jumpy?" he asked.

"Sorry, Val. You just caught me off guard. (And I told you to call me Ellie)What can I help you with?"

"I saw you come in with that group of kids. They your friends from school?"

"Something like that…why?"

"You don't have to stay until 2 a.m. if you don't want to. I know you work at a club but have you ever actually BEEN to one?" Val asked.

Zell had realized he'd never been to a club before. He was either never old enough or never cool enough. "No, I haven't."

Val smirked. "Well here's your golden opportunity. After midnight this place really starts to get fired up. Why don't you clock out then and enjoy the party after with your friends?"

Zell wasn't really that excited about being around those jealous bitches all night, but if it helped him get a chance to know Irvine and get out of his heels, you may as well call him a party animal.

The four upper classmen struggled through the crowd and sat down at their usual table, although they had to wait a little while before it was available. "I'm not complaining," Nida said. "Irvine's chick has class. Without him we would have had to wait for that stupid line to never end."

"He's not his chick!" Selphie whined.

The whole table looked at the short brunette in surprise. "Are you okay?" Irvine asked her.

Selphie just sighed and didn't say anything. "You seem disappointed that he's available, Nida," Quistis observed.

"Hell yeah. You know how Galbadian boys are. If word gets out about the new freshmen when the term starts I guarantee they'll swarm on him like hyenas on a gazelle."

"Well that's his problem. Not yours. In the meantime you need to remember who you're with or you'll be connecting more than metal in tech club," Quistis threatened. Nida gulped. He was vice president of the tech club, which basically fooled around with computer parts and stuff all day. If he wanted to keep his balls he would need to stay focused on Quistis and not Ellie.

"Ellie isn't like that," Irvine defended.

After the group finished their food, they let their bellies digest while the club intensified. Quistis and Nida decided to go dance leaving Irvine and Selphie to themselves. "Hey, Irvy what do you say we shake our groove thing?" she asked.

Irvine, intensified by her cuteness, said yes.

**Zell**

Midnight had finally arrived and Zell clocked out. He put his tips in the pocket of his hoody (reminding him to buy a new jacket soon). He worked less hours than last night but still managed to make the same amount of tips, if not more. He passed by the bar in his regular clothes and watched the boys from school getting excited from the game. The Ironmen were in the lead by about 90 points. Zell saw why this school was so hyped up when it came to football, and pretty much everything else.

He looked around for Irvine and the others but couldn't find them at their usual table. So they were probably dancing. Zell looked over to the massive crowded dance floor. It would be impossible to find anyone in that crowd. He braced himself for the stampede as he made his way in. Hot sticky bodies clung to his skin as he walked through the crowd.

Lots of boys had taken their shirts off and were bouncing to the bang of the beat. The disco ball obscured everyone's faces and it was hard to tell who was who. This was proving to be impossible. Someone had grabbed Zell by the waist and began dancing really close on Zell's backside. He turned around to see some boy he didn't know grinding on him.

He pulled away shyly and put a nervous smile up. The guy was cute, but Zell didn't know him so he felt a little violated. "You look lost, kid," the man commented over the loud hum of bass.

"No I'm not lost just looking for my friend," replied Zell.

"Your boyfriend? Why don't I keep you busy until he finds you?" he asked.

Zell wondered if there was a reason why he should wait around for JUST Irvine. In fact Irvine wasn't his boyfriend so why couldn't he dance with a complete stranger? That's the benefit of a crowd in the first place right? "Sure," Zell agreed.

He danced with the strange man for a long time. It felt like hours when it was probably only 15 minutes. Everything Zell did the other man reacted to. He gyrated his hips against the man's lower regions enough to the point where he was still being conservative. Now the darker haired man was taking the lead. He grabbed Zell's ass with both hands and threw Zell's arms around his neck.

After a while it felt like they were doing the dirty with their clothes on which is why he was more than grateful when a familiar voice said, "Mind if I cut in?" Zell turned to see a familiar face looking eagerly at Zell.

"You go on and take him," the stranger answered. "I almost forgot he had a boyfriend." The man danced off into the crowd immediately finding another partner to dry hump.

Irvine grabbed Zell's hips and said, "He was friendly."

"He kept me company while you were gone," Zell teased. He ghosted his hands down Irvine's muscled stomach and rocked his hips in a Cuban fashion to a new song that the D.J. turned on.

"I didn't think you got off until 2."

"My boss let me off earlier so I could enjoy the game."

"Fuck the game," Irvine laughed. "This is why we came here tonight." Irvine was a very respectable dance partner. He kept his hands in appropriate places and never stopped looking at Zell. The shorter boy bounced to the rhythm and was glad that they weren't dancing one-sided. Irvine wasn't reacting off of Zell, but they were reacting off of each other. One thing was for sure. They both made one hell of a dance partner.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Selphie was sitting alone at their abandoned table. She wondered where Irvine had went off to. The auburn haired man had said he wasn't feeling well and he was going back to the table to cool off, leaving Selphie to dance by herself. Nida and Quistis emerged out of the dance floor and headed towards Selphie clearly out of breath. "You two look like you were doing a bit more than dancing," Selphie joked.

"We pretty much were, we just had our clothes on," Nida answered, earning him a slap upside the head from Quistis.

"Have you seen Irvy?" Selphie asked.

"He's right there," Nida pointed to the hot couple dancing in the middle of the crowd. Selphie's jaw dropped at what she saw. Her crush and that CHICK! Her eyes flashed green and her mind screamed murder.

"Hey the kids not a bad dancer," Nida observed. "Don't you think, Selphie?"

"Yeah…real twinkle toes," she grunted. Little did Selphie know her eyes weren't the only ones to flash green at that time.

**Seifer**

He watched from a safe enough distance with his faithful companion. There was nothing Seifer could do right now, because of the unfortunate crowd. But when he got his chance Zell would be taught a lesson about running off with another guy, and his little boyfriend would also suffer a fate far worse than death.

"BOYFRIEND," Fujin commented.

Seifer grinned evilly. "Not for long."

**A/N: Can't wait to post the next update! Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	9. Sunday Dinner

The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews! Feelings are revealed in this chapter by Irvine and Seifer. Both sexual and emotional….YAY! Also, I'd like to say that The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted has reached it's 3000th hit! I'm so proud of my baby!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Chapter 9: Sunday Dinner**

**Seifer**

Seifer watched as the two boys danced on the floor of Incubus. Zell was spunky when it came to dancing. There was something about his hips that entranced Seifer. It was like the two parts of his body where doing two different dances. His lower body was very rhythmical and never missed a beat. His upper body was disciplined and it wasn't wild and corny like an 80s disco dancer. He only moved his arms when he had to. His dance partner however, was a different story. Seifer laughed at how pathetic the guy was.

All he could do was stay on beat while Zell did most of the work. He had red hair and looked like he was more suited to a ho-down instead of a rave by the looks of how stiff he was. Seifer could have been exaggerating, but if he was he had reason to be biased. After all, Chicken was his property and he was certain that if he met the guy, he wouldn't like him anyway.

"Wow. Those two are really tearing the floor up aren't they?" Seifer looked over at two bouncers enjoying their break. They were socializing and watching the club patrons. The one who had spoke was bronze colored and used a large bamboo pole as his weapon.

Seifer listened as the paler bouncer responded, "Is there a reason why Val didn't put that kid on one of the poles?"

"I hear he's not old enough. His name is Ellie or something. His first night he came in acting like he owned the place, he even got Val pissed at me. That little brat is gonna pay, ya know?"

"Well one thing is for sure: That _little brat_ is gonna make moneh when he hits eighteen. What's he do here now?"

"He serves the tables, and he usually works on the weekends. All the customers like him so I guess I can't say that he's a bitch to everyone, ya know?"

"Well regardless of his attitude, we better get back to work, Rai. Breaks almost over."

"Yeah, you're right. Those two are makin' me hot just by watchin' and I'm straight, ya know?"

"Yeah, Rai. I know…" the paler of the two responded sarcastically. The two bouncers left their spot leaving a slightly uncomfortable Seifer to his thoughts.

He was fed up with what he was experiencing at the moment. So much that he turned away from Zell dancing with Irvine and got up from his seat. Fujin followed him as he headed towards the exit. Obviously upset about what he had just heard, he burst through the doors. No one noticed however because they were too preoccupied with their own fun. Fujin's short legs tried to keep up with his angry stride on the sidewalk and almost ran into his large back when he came to and abrupt stop. "WHAT'S WRONG?" She asked.

Seifer was staring at the navy blue sky above the city. There were hardly any stars out tonight. He felt a strange feeling inside of him. Whatever feeling it was it was boosting his competitive level for his beautiful chicken. He not only had to worry about Squall moving in on his prey, but he had to worry about some teenager stealing his heart. He didn't know the right word for it, but right now he was hurt. Perhaps he's so confused because rejection isn't something he ever felt before. But is this really rejection? No, because that would imply that he had feelings, which he didn't because those are for humans. Yes, that's what feelings are for: To make humans weak like Chicken. Seifer is strong and people like Chicken are weak, that's why they are game and he is hunter like it's supposed to be, no different than the relationship of man and woman.

He had been reluctant to take a break from hunting tonight like Fu had recommended. Firstly, people and crowds annoyed him. Secondly, he didn't want to stop looking for Zell even for a second, but Fujin insisted that he needed to loosen up. Damned kids and their party animal tendencies. Not that Seifer was that old, but being a vampire automatically put a couple hundred years on your mental state.

He wouldn't let 'Some kid' be a threat to him, but Zell looked like he was actually having fun with that creep. Seifer could never make the chicken smile like that because he was a vampire. But why should he care? Chicken is only a fuck, and that's all he'll ever be. But then why did Seifer feel somehow betrayed? "Nothing," he lied. "That bouncer said Chicken works here. We'll come back another time."

Fujin shifted waiting for the next plan of motion. "SLEEP?" She recommended. It's late anyway and the poor girl's feet hurt.

"Sure," was his crummy sounding reply, but it could have passed for just being sleepy.

**Irvine**

Nearing 3 in the morning, Zell and Irvine had made it back to the dormitories. Quistis, Nida, and Selphie had departed back to their own rooms as well. The Galbadian Ironmen had won the game and students were piss drunk still celebrating their victory back at Club Incubus. As such, the teens felt it was time to wine down back at their dorms.

"Some night, huh?" Zell asked plopping down on Irvine's couch.

"I'll say. You're quite the firecracker when it comes to dancing. Where'd you learn that anyway?" Irvine asked as he took his shirt off, walking around his house bare-chested. Zell had to stop himself from drooling all over Irvine's expensive Italian sofa.

"Um **slobber**, when I was younger my mom enrolled me in International Latin Ballroom Dance classes. So ever since then I've just been using Latin rhythm at parties and stuff." Man was Irvine HAWT! Zell knew in the back of his mind that Irvine was pretty chiseled when it came to his body, (you could tell just by looking at how his shirts made lines from every muscle on his torso) but if you saw him without a shirt on you'd ogle him just like Zell was doing right now. He had a chiseled six-pack and a hard proud chest. Had he been on the swim team at one point in his life.

"You used to be a dancer? I'm not surprised actually; it suits you a lot," Irvine complimented. He sat down next to Zell, who made room by moving his feet. "The others were so jealous of your dancing. Especially the girls. I'm glad you all get along, they seem to like you a lot." Little did Irvine know, Zell was the victim of a 5'2" hate-monger. Zell's eye twitched at Irvine's unawareness. "Friends are really important to me and I was hoping there wouldn't be any problems. Not that I thought there would be because you don't seem like a trouble maker…are you?"

"Not off hand, but I can be pretty bitchy if you press the right buttons…" Zell admitted.

Irvine chuckled "I guess I'll just have to remember to hit all the sensitive spots then," Irvine flirted making Zell smile. "So you're sleeping on the couch tonight?"

"Well I _would sleep _in my dorm, but-

"You have no bed, because it only got assigned to you today," The taller boy interrupted.

"Wow. Are my circumstances that obvious?"

"No I just know the Garden pretty well. I also know a damsel in distress when I see one. Now you have no choice but to stay in the evil sorcerer's chambers and endure misery."

Zell giggled. "Oh please I'm no damsel and you're no sorcerer. I could kick your ass any day. I only _look_ harmless," he joked.

Irvine cocked an eyebrow at the freshman. "Oh really? Well school starts in a few weeks. I won't be able to transform into your prince and save you from bullies if you're not a damsel. Besides, who's gonna save ya from-" **!POUNCE! **"TICKLE ATTACK!" the auburn haired boy shouted. Irvine had tackled Zell on his back and tickled his sides making the raven haired boy squirm around.

"S-op that!" Zell gasped. He could hardly get words out because he was laughing so hard from the tickling sensation.

"The only way to make the evil sorcerer stop his spell is to give him a kiss." Irvine was having fun messing with Zell's head.

"Ah! That tickles! It's too late for this! **squeal!** Alright!! Fine I'll give you your stupid kiss." Zell sat up and gave the taller boy a peck on the cheek.

Irvine stopped for a brief moment and stared at the panting body in front of him. "That's it? You're going to have to do a lot better if you want to stopeth this villain," he declared in his most medieval-Shakespearian voice. He continued torturing Zell with his rough hands.

Zell shot up and planted his lips on Irvine's and quickly broke away. "There are you happy?" Zell was exhausted. Working, dancing all night and now this? Did Irvine ever sleep? Those lips, Zell noted, were soft and Gentle.

"The evil man vanished into the darkness and was never seen or heard from again," Irvine play wrote. "Now enter the heroic prince who went to a far off land to fetch blankets for his beautiful princess." Irvine ran off into the bathroom to get a blanket and pillows for Zell. He came back to the living room and said, "and they lived happily ever after."

Zell rolled his eyes. "You're really weird when it gets late, you know?" he commented while shedding some of his heavier clothes.

"Well, you put me in a really good mood tonight, Ellie. I hope I entertained you with my role-playing."

"It was decent. I like how it had a happy ending, although it could've had more conflict. The plot felt like it was nothing but a bunch of tickling…" Zell critiqued.

They shared a laugh. "I see. Well sweet dreams, Ellie. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow's Sunday. We're both off from work. We should do something-just the two of us."

"Definitely. I had fun tonight."

Irvine vanished into his bedroom. When he got to the door he wanted so bad to give Ellie an invitation to come to his bed if he got cold. But that would just make him look like a pervert (which he was) so instead he stayed in his dark room by himself and left his door open. He got into his bed and pulled the covers over himself. He had difficulty going to sleep though: his boner had Ellie's name written all over it.

**Fu**

After Fujin took her shower and ate breakfast by herself she finally decided to wake her undead friend up. Although he looked very peaceful while he slept, the whole day was going to go by if he didn't get up soon. Last night something had bothered him and Fujin knew exactly what. Seifer had probably never experienced jealousy a day in his life, not like this anyway. Fujin knew exactly how he felt. Wanting something so bad it hurt, but when someone else gets it you start wondering what's wrong with yourself and feeling insecure about every little thing. Fujin's young mind had confirmed it: Seifer was showing the early signs of someone falling in love…

"HEY! GET UP!" Fujin ordered.

He didn't stir from beneath the covers.

"CHICKEN IN CAFETERIA…"

"What where!?" Seifer jolted out of bed and scrambled for his clothes.

Fujin watched him whiz around the room and began laughing. "IDIOT!"

"Nice one. I'll get you back," Seifer yawned.

"NEXT TIME I KICK YOU…"

The duo left their crummy motel and relaxed at a park in town. They sat down on one of the benches and enjoyed the day in silence. "Nice day, huh?" Seifer asked.

"Hnn…"

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Winter is right around the corner."

"COLD IS GOOD."

"Well, to each her own then. So I came up with a great idea last night for our next attack on Chicken. We're gonna find out where he and his boyfriend live. Then when he's alone, **!BAM!**," Seifer exclaimed by pounding his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"BAM?" Fujin asked.

"You know…I'm gonna fuck 'im…"

"OH! LIVING TOGETHER?"

That was a good question: _were_ they living together? The thought enraged Seifer. "If they are I'll cut that faggot's Genitals off. I mean did you see his pony-tail? I haven't seen one of those since I watched that western movie a few years back."

Fujin watched a child feed a flock of birds as he rambled on about how much of a dweeb Chicken's boyfriend was. "BOYFRIEND?"

"You askin' me how do I know if that's really Chicken's boyfriend? Well did you see the way he was dancing? I hope he doesn't dance with anyone but his _boyfriend_." For Chicken to dance with someone he hardly knew was very unlikely. Seifer didn't think an animal lover like that would be so lewd as to go and club hump the first person he saw in a club. Or would he? It appeared a lot was changing as far as the former-blond.

"I SEE." Fujin got up and stretched her legs. "WEEKEND."

Seifer grinned. "Right. When club Incubus opens this weekend we're gonna see if we can find his employment record. That should point us straight to his residence…"

**Zell**

The tattoo-less boy was up and walking around by 2:30 in the afternoon. He and Irvine had eaten breakfast and were now watching television on his couch. The good news was that Dorm Management was now working on installing a bed for Zell's room. They were also working on activating his utilities. So that was a good thing.

Zell didn't know how long Irvine would put up with Zell rooming with him. They were sitting on the couch a decent distance away from each other and watched 'The Croc Hunter'. Zell was excited that he and Irvine both shared an interest in the animal channel. "He's gonna get killed one day doing crazy stuff like that," Zell commented.

"He knows what he's doing. Maybe he won't get killed by a crocodile," Irvine suggested.

"You're probably right. Bitten by a beast would be too easy. Maybe stabbed by something underwater?"

"That's crazy. Maybe he'll drown."

Zell laughed. "We're pretty sick making predictions on someone else's death. It's sort of creeping me out."

"I think it's all this sitting around the house that's messing with our heads. You know, the whole four walls deal. Why don't we go outside. It's a nice day."

It would be good to go see the outdoors Zell thought. "Alright then, let's go."

Before they left Irvine grabbed a hat from his room. It was black and old fashioned like a cowboy hat. Zell thought it looked sexy, but kept _that _comment to himself and said that it was _'cool'_ instead.

The pair had left Irvine's dorm and headed towards the courtyard. In the Welcome center of the school, they were acknowledged by a man who wore blue military robes and professional attire underneath. The buttons on his right shoulder symbolized his service in the military. Obviously a man of power.

"Irvine, good to see you. Who's your new friend?" he asked.

Zell could feel Irvine tense up beside him. "Headmaster Martine, this is my friend Ellie," he said whilst looking at the floor. "Ellie this is Headmaster Martine."

"Nice to meet you," Zell said cheerfully. Martine had a hard face that looked like it had been stressed over the years by many battles. He was probably fifty.

"So you're the new student Ellie Anderson. I remember looking at your file the other day. Looks like you registered for classes just in time. You're from Balamb and you intend to be a pre-vet major. Why the late wait to enroll?" he asked.

Zell had known Martine for only five minutes and was already discontented by this man and him putting his business everywhere. Not that it was a secret, but he felt somewhat violated that his whole fake file had been read and yet Martine knew almost everything about him. Why not just tell everyone what kind of underwear he was wearing!? "Well I was just stuck between colleges for awhile," Zell answered through practically clenched teeth. Hoping to put the Headmaster's attitude in check, Zell went to make Galbadia sound demeaning. "I searched and searched for a college with a five year vet program and good diversity. I found one with good diversity but a 2-year vet program. Then I found Galbadia University. It has a 5 year vet program but diversity could use improvement. Your school was sort of a last resort," Zell finished sweetly but not-so-sweetly.

"I see. Well I hope you last at least three years. None of Galbadia's grad programs should be taken lightly if you know what I mean. Perhaps as a warm welcoming to the school you'd like to have dinner at my estate tonight? I must insist." Zell had noticed Irvine's breathing pattern had changed.

Shit. Zell should have known than to try and break an ex-soldier's demeanor. Martine was obviously unaffected by Zell's snobbish façade and from the looks of it saw right through the little tyke. Zell had half a mind to reject his invitation, but for the sake of brownie points with school administrators he grudgingly replied, "I'd love to."

"Excellent. I will see the both of you tonight then. Irvine can show you the way-Well I am a little busy at the moment so I must get going. It was nice meeting you, Ellie." With a curt nod and no smile he departed with a formal, "Irvine…"

Zell glared daggers at Martine's departing shoulder line and looked at Irvine, who was looking at the floor, eyes slightly discolored. "Um…Irvine?"

He had snapped out of whatever it was it seemed. "Huh? Oh yeah let's go outside then…" he said unenthusiastically.

The outside of campus was a large field…several large fields if you looked far enough. The two boys passed several students getting their last games of sports in before the term started. They walked in silence and stopped when Zell noticed a lonely swing set. Zell's eyes lit up like a child's. "Hey let's go over there!" he exclaimed.

They both sat down on a swing next to each other. Zell began rocking at a steady pace and enjoying the outdoor breeze. The temperature wasn't to hot and the football players were far enough to the point where they weren't annoyingly loud. This is what was great about Sunday afternoons. Except for one small problem.

Irvine's feet dragged lazily across the mulch. When Zell realized his feet were about to touch the sky, he slowed his pace and watched Irvine draw pictures of guns into the dirt with his foot. "Are you okay, Irvine?"

The taller man sighed and hung his head. "You should have never accepted his invitation to dinner, Ellie."

"Why? Did something happen for you to not like him? Because you're making it pretty obvious that you don't."

"I have my reasons. I guess since we can't really get out of this dinner arrangement I should tell you a few things. Are you ready?" asked Irvine.

Zell was anxious. He felt he had made a mistake. "Yeah go ahead."

Irvine took off his cowboy hat and laid it in his lap. "First, I'll start by telling you that me and that man don't have an ordinary administrator-pupil relationship. In case you start wondering later on why I act a certain way towards him, you'll have that in mind. I'll be plain: I like that man as much as you like the manufacturing of a leather jacket. I'll leave that subject where it is and say no more about it but the other thing I wanted to say was: There's going to be an interesting dinner topic tonight. If he asks you any awkward questions I want you to bullshit him as much as you can. I'm pretty sure you learned that from your first conversation with him that that won't be easy. The man is basically a mind reader. So if at any time you hesitate, just look to me and I'll cover you."

"What do you mean by awkward?"

"Don't worry. You'll know awkward when you hear it. Now promise me you'll do as I say."

"Did something happen between you two?"

"Please, Ellie. Just promise me."

Zell was shocked at Irvine's new serious aura. "Okay, Irvine. I'll do whatever you say. I promise."

"Are you serious?" Zell asked later on in the evening.

"Yeah. What's the big deal?" Irvine massaged the black material with his thumb.

"Well it's just dinner, I don't see why I can't be just me…"

"You will be you. But Martine doesn't want to know you. He wants to know you the way _he _wants to, if that makes any sense. I'm wearing one too, so you shouldn't feel overdressed or anything…"

"Yeah, but you get the cool tuxedo. Yours has fringe on it," Zell replied admiring the tuxedo with a cowboy theme to it. "Ugh, let's just hurry up and get this over with." Zell had made a fuss when Irvine told him that dinner with Martine was always formal no matter the circumstances. It would be rude to show up in casual-wear.

Zell was wearing a formal black tuxedo. He felt like he was going to a funeral instead of dinner. Later in the evening the pair had arrived at Martine's estate just a few miles north of the University. They were led from the large foyer where they first walked in into the dining room promptly by the butler and seated next to one another at the long table that could seat up to 10 people it seemed. It didn't seem necessary to have dinner when there would be only three of them eating.

The room had been dimmed by candle lights and it seemed to be made completely of oak. There were oil paintings of beautiful women along one side of the walls, water colored battle scenes on the opposite, and an antique display of weapons at the head where Zell supposed Martine would sit. Though, the table was bare of any actual food it was also bare of Martine himself. "Where do you suppose he is?" Zell asked Irvine, who sat in the chair next to him.

"Who knows? Probably off doing some simple task just to be the last to arrive at dinner."

"Now, Irvine what kind of man do you think I am?" Martine asked from his position in the doorway. Zell hadn't noticed the Headmaster standing there and from his point of view, Irvine didn't really care that Martine had heard what he said.

"I think you know what my thoughts of you are already, Headmaster," Irvine said coldly.

Martine jaunted powerfully to the far end of the table (which was the head of the table) and took his seat with his back facing his collection of guns and swords. Some of the sharper objects looked like they went back as far as ancient Germanic times. "Be that as it may, let's try to have a peaceful dinner. After all we have a guest. Irvine where are your manners? Take your hat off."

Irvine did as he was told and placed his black cowboy hat in the vacant seat next to him. He then stared down at his lap and remained silent. The tension between the two other men was uncomfortable for Zell, but he wasn't about to break this silence either by making petty conversation, less he say something stupid and embarrass himself. Thankfully the indifferent Martine did it for him. "Now that the head of this household has arrived, why don't we go ahead and start dinner."

On cue, Martine's whole staff came out of a door which seemed to lead to the kitchen. They carried plates and beverages and set them down on the table in front of the table's occupants. Zell eyed the food in awe. It brought a smile to his face and he was resolute to show his excitement. "Wow! All this food for us?"

"Compliments of the chef." One of the servers had told Martine.

The staff went back to their stations leaving the three men to dine in peace, but not before telling them that if any of them needed anything, to not hesitate to call. Zell was starting to drool. It had been a while since he saw food like this. "Well don't just stare at it, son. Help yourself," Martine granted. Zell didn't notice Irvine shoot Martine a dirty look because he had called Ellie 'son'.

After they had filled their plates, all three men worked on clearing them. Occasional questions popped up about the food, but nothing more. Halfway through dinner, though, Martine became talkative. "So Ellie, tell me: How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"Ah. So young. Only one year younger than Irvine here. Irvine was your age when he joined our organization."

"Organization?" Zell asked, mouth occupied by a roll.

"Yes, a secret organization in which to better the life for humans. You are aware of such things as monsters in this world right?"

Zell almost choked on his glass of juice. So this is what Irvine had been talking about. Best bet was to play dumb for as long as he could. "Um, you mean like the boogyman?" Zell asked innocently.

"No. I mean monsters like werewolves, vampires, and banshees: Things like that…"

"Oh. I love those types of movies. Like Underworld. It's one of my favorite movies."

Irvine laughed silently in his napkin. Ellie was handling this better than he would have anticipated. It was also amusing to see Martine's frustrated expression. "No, I'm talking about real life demons. There is an organization at this school which is specialized for just such occasions. We're a slaying organization called F.L.A.R.E. I want you to join our cause."

"Umm…I…well…I" _'If at time you hesitate, just look to me and I'll cover you.' _Irvine's voice said in Zell's mind. He did just that.

"Ellie, he's joking with you. Those were lines from a school play. Don't take him seriously."

Relief had washed over Zell and he began laughing along with the other men. He had been really close to having his past shown. He didn't want anyone to know what was pursuing him. If they knew they'd be in danger. If he had to die, only Zell would die, no one else. "You had me going there, Headmaster."

Martine coughed and returned to his plate frustratedly. "I just thought I'd liven up dinner. That's all." Dinner past smoothly and it was time for the two boys to wrap up and head back home.

"Thank you for dinner, Headmaster," Zell thanked Martine when they entered the foyer to leave.

"Any time Ellie, welcome to Galbadia."

"Ellie, wait for me in the car. I have something I'd like to talk to Headmaster about," said Irvine.

"…okay. I guess I'll be in the car then." Zell left the manor and waited in Irvine's car. He sat in the dark driveway wondering what they could be talking about.

Irvine made sure Ellie was far away before he started yelling. "How dare you try to pull something like that off?" Irvine was infuriated at the man.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Martine answered casually walking over to a painting in his dim foyer. "Besides you don't know him well enough to be defending him."

"I may not know much about that kid, but I can tell that the last thing he needs right now is an offer like that. Leave the killing to me and the others. I'm warning you."

"So that's what this is about," Martine turned to face the auburn haired pupil. "I didn't want to believe it at first, but it's quite obvious that you like this boy. You're gonna get yourself in a lot of trouble, Irvine. I'm assuming you've told him haven't you?"

"No, he doesn't know anything and I'd prefer if it stayed that way," Irvine warned making his intentions clear.

"Guess what, my son. When you get yourself killed in battle, he'll find out then. Then it'll be too late won't it? Trust me, the longer you wait, the more likely it is that that boy will leave you. I was only looking out for your best interest by making him a member of our clan. If he were a member he would understand more. But no. You had to undermine me with that playwright crap."

"I already told you why," Irvine snarled. "Stay away from him-Thanks for dinner." With that Irvine exited through the large polished doors and left the Headmaster to his own thoughts.

"Irvine, you were always a stubborn kid," he said to himself in a reminiscent thoughtful way. He unbuttoned the tuffs of his shirt and locked the door behind Irvine.

"Well that was an interesting night," Zell chirped. "I was wrong about him, he can be charming."

Irvine stayed focused on the road back home. "Well I'm glad you had fun, Ellie," he answered.

The radio was off and nothing but the tires against the road could be heard. Zell didn't notice how dark the campus could be because he had never really looked around at night. But part of it was for the huge forest along the road and the lack of moonlight that was out tonight.

They arrived in the student parking lot of Irvine's building. When they arrived back at Irvine's house, Zell took his suit and shoes off and lay on the couch. "Dinner made me a little tired. I'm full up to my neck."

"Yeah," Irvine muttered as he headed into his own room. There was still something bothering Irvine, Zell could tell. But he wouldn't bug him about it. Irvine has done so much for me, it would be wrong if I didn't make myself available as someone to talk to.

With his mind made up he walked to Irvine's cracked door and knocked. "Irvine can I come in?"

"Yeah," was his reply.

Zell opened the door and saw that Irvine was laying on his bed changed out of his suit as well. He lay on top of his bed in a tank top, blue boxers and barefoot. He looked so comfortable. "I bet you couldn't wait to get home," Zell teased. Irvine gave somewhat of a smile and moved over so Zell had room to sit down on next to his laying body. "I just wanted to say that, if you ever need someone to talk to I'm here. I couldn't stand to see you go to sleep like that, it would have bothered me all night."

Irvine sat up so that he was level with Zell. "That means a lot to me, Ellie. Thanks." Now he was really smiling. Zell was weak to that smile. It was perfect and it made him feel good knowing that he had put that smile there. Then he did something he had never done seriously. He moved forward with his eyes closed and kissed Irvine on the lips.

He pulled away and looked down at the bed cover. "Well goodnight," Zell said.

But Irvine had other ideas in mind. He grabbed Zell's wrist and looked into his eyes. Their eyes were drowning in each other. Light blue met dark blue and Zell could read what Irvine's eyes were saying. They were saying, "Just a little bit more? Please?" and this time Irvine kissed Zell. This was their third kiss on the lips since they had met, yet this was the best one of all. This time, both of them were into it. Irvine kept his tongue in his mouth. If he went that far he would imply that he wanted sex (which he did want from Ellie really badly) and he doubted that Ellie was ready to go that far with him yet.

Irvine was really experienced and Zell was not. This was a good thing because this way Zell could mimic whatever Irvine did. No tongue involved yet Irvinee made good work of his lips, and so did Zell. When they broke apart Irvine had a satiated look on his face, and Zell was flustered and panting. "I feel a whole lot better now," Irvine said.

"Good," Zell replied.

**A/N: Ohhh Zellie I can't believe you're giving Irvy stiffies! Irvy I can't believe you're hiding things from Zellie! Thankyou for reading! Please review!**


	10. Friend's Love

The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted

**A/N: YAY! Happy 10****th**** chapter everyone!! And thank you for your reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Warning: VIOLENCE! There is a fight scene ahead that ends with a death. Also this is where the horror category of this story comes in. Don't worry this chapter isn't all horror and violence. The character's relationships are developing. YAY!;**

**Chapter 10: Friend's Love**

The rest of the summer week had gone by smoothly and vampire free. Only one more week until school started and Zell was still stationed at his usual job in Incubus. "Order up!" Clarrisa shouted. Zell grabbed the plate and delivered it to its assigned table. Of course if he was delivering an order to a large table of perverted boys he wouldn't be able to leave without getting smacked on the ass. However, when he thought about how much money he made in a 3 day period he really didn't care. Zell was quickly getting accustomed to his job as a server. Other employees noticed this feat as well.

Raijin in particular. He occasionally got dirty looks from the tan man at work. Zell assumed that he was still sour about that night where Zell had gotten Val pissed at Raijin. Maybe if he apologized to the larger man he wouldn't be as mean anymore. But that would make Zell seem weak and it wouldn't be good for his so called "bitchy" image that he needed to keep up.

Closing time had arrived and now he'd get to go home and soak his aching feet. They were hurting as usual in those damned heels. He rushed out of the doors and waited for traffic to slow down before he would cross the street. It was a clear shot from here to the bus stop, but a familiar car that reeked "stud muffin" blocked his path. "Hey, want a ride home?" Irvine asked.

Zell took no time in jumping into the car and fastening his seatbelt. "You came to pick me up?" Zell asked as they pulled off from in front of the club.

"Yeah, I didn't want you taking the bus at this time of night."

"Irvine, are you trying to say that you care about me?" Zell teased.

"Maybe," he teased back.

"Well I think it was sweet." Zell reached over the armrest of the car and pecked his driver on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah." Irvine pretended like he hadn't appreciated that type of affection.

When they got back home, Irvine stretched, raising his arms above his head.

"Man, my back is killing me. I think I strained it a lot at work today," Irvine complained.

"Well my feet hurt," Zell added stretching out on the couch.

"Want me to give you a foot rub?" Irvine offered.

"Only if you let me give you a backrub," Zell grinned mischievously as the cowboyish man happily laid on his stomach and waited in anticipation for his back rub.

Zell searched for the baby oil.

**Seifer and Fu**

Seifer scanned the building looking for Chicken. It was hard for him to smell lilacs with this many sweating bodies interfering with the air waves. Just then he got a buzz on his cell. It was Fujin.

_"CHICKEN OUT FRONT DOOR."_

"I'm on my way. Did you see which way he went?"Seifer said into the phone while coming out and seeing Fujin in the driver's seat of their car. He shut his phone and put it back in its case.

Fujin placed hers on the dashboard. "BOYFRIEND PICKED HIM UP." They drove off following in the direction of the two college students.

"You mean to tell me that guy came and picked Chickie up?" Seifer asked a little surprised. Maybe the guy wasn't so bad after all. He'd better pick Chicken up, Seifer thought angrily. It was late and he'd be a little upset at any guy who let Chicken walk back home alone at night, especially when vicious monsters such as himself were on the loose. Seifer had felt a twinge of annoyance when Fujin said that it was Zell's boyfriend.

"THERE!" Fujin pointed at a car a few feet in front of them.

"I see 'em. Don't get too close or they'll get suspicious and pull over. I wanna find out where they live." Seifer stared at the back of the two's head as they drove in silence. He was shocked when he saw Zell lean over his seat to give the taller man in the driver's seat a kiss on the cheek.

"HN…"

The duo tailed the couple across the peninsula to Galbadia University. Seifer sneered. "So he's staying in a dorm with that kid, huh? Damn this makes things difficult. I can't get to him if he's always around other people." Seifer had called Chicken's boyfriend "kid" not realizing or caring that he could've been the same age as him.

"BACK TO BASE. WE THINK MORE," Fujin suggested.

"Right. But we did make progress tonight. Remember he works again tomorrow. We're gonna pay him another visit."

"AGAIN?" Fujin asked.

Seifer knew what she meant. He and Fu had spent so much time together over the past two weeks and he could decrypt what she was saying. "Are you asking me if going back again is such a good idea because we're risking getting caught by him and causing him to quit his job and flee town again?"

"HN," she grunted which basically meant 'indeed' or any other form of her confirmation. They began driving back to Deiling.

"I see your point. Man it's a good thing you're a girl. Unlike me I think with my dick…literally. I just wanna fuck, so sometimes I can be a little reckless, but since I have you I think that helps me make better choices." Seifer was surprised he said that aloud. He didn't regret saying it though.

"Mhm," Fujin agreed with a smug look on her face. The compliment had made her warm on the inside. Now she knew her feelings weren't one-sided. Seifer had basically confessed to her that she made him a better man. What he didn't know was that she felt the same way. Ever since she met this so called "monster", she'd been treated with nothing but kindness. The best friend she ever had and that's why she would do anything to help him get what he wanted. He respected her and saved her life once. Fujin couldn't say the same thing about anybody else. She began cracking up slowly at the comment about Seifer thinking with his dick. Then she just couldn't help herself. Pretty soon they were both in a fit of laughter.

At that rare moment when the two friends ever shared a laugh with each other, for lack of entertainment and spare time, several things happened. The first thing was unexpected, especially at the duo's weakest moment: something-some sort of animal or deformed beast jumped out of nowhere and landed on the front of their car window and immediately hopped over them, leaving a crack in the spot where the large clawed foot had landed and causing Fujin to swerve wildly into the forest that bordered campus life and wildlife. The second was that Seifer became slightly startled. He didn't jump from the unexpected animal that leaped over their car, but from Fujin's high panicked scream. She was such a serious mature person most of the time that he forgot how young she really was. Fujin tried her best to regain control of their car, but the impact from the monster's jump had sent them sprawling into the dark forest. All that could be heard was John Lennon's "Imagine" playing from their radio, tires whining against the muddy soil of the forest ground, and Fujin's struggling grunts. She could feel them descending down a hill at high speeds and her heart was dropping almost as fast as the car was. What happened next left the situation to a higher force.

The right front wheel of the car had collided with the stump of a tree and flew off. Seifer was on the right passenger side so he felt the car dip on his side. He placed his hands forcefully on the interior edges of the car to brace himself should anything happen to him like falling out of the car door. With uneven momentum the car's lowered bumper slid along the dirt and tilted the car's rear upward preparing it for a front flip. The scariest part, thought Fujin, was not having any control over a situation in which she might die and kill her best friend. They did three forward flips in the air and when they finally landed on somewhat even ground, they slid forward at an even higher speed than before but at least it was constant. Fujin was in between consciousness and she could have hit her head on the dash board, or passed out from fear. Either way she had too much wind knocked out of her from those revolutions to hit the break as they rushed into a fallen tree. Seifer saw the object clearly before they made contact and put his arm in front of Fujin's collarbone like a mother would do to her son if she felt they were going to hit another car. His fingers grazed over the nylon-like sash that was her seatbelt and remembered he wasn't wearing one himself. "Oh shit," he half groaned-half fussed.

**!SLAM!**

The taller man's last thoughts were for Fu's safety but all conscious thought was ejected with him as he flew through the front window, shattering the glass and landing far into dark oblivion of the forest. One of the most annoying sounds after a car wreck was the sound of the horn being pressed by the driver's forehead. She wasn't dead (thanks to the air bag) but from the way her head was splitting, Fujin wished she had died. She sat up wearily and the siren ceased to live. She also cut the radio off frustrated, killing all evidence of John Lennon. Sound was just too much for her head right now.

Fujin looked around and tried to make her eyes adjust to the darkness. She could hardly make anything out with the tree tops blocking out the moon and starlight. She looked down to her right and instead of staring at Seifer's lap, she was staring at pieces of bloodied glass littering the passenger's side. Fujin jolted up and immediately flicked the overhead switch and two beams of light shot out of the head of the car. Where was Seifer? Why hadn't he wearing a seatbelt!? What if he had died!? What would she do!? Fujin looked in the lighted path and saw and heard something move out of the light and go behind a tree. Her heart ran. Did she imagine that because she was panicking? No something was lurking around. She wasn't hearing and seeing things because she had hit her head. First things first, she had to find Seifer.

She tried to open her door, but it wouldn't budge. The metal of her door was bent out of shape really badly and prevented the door from opening the right way. No choice but to climb through the front window that Seifer's body had smashed. She took off her seat belt and crawled over, sliding off the hood of the car and landing in the dirt. Fujin stood up and was happy to know that she could stand…barely. She limped towards the direction Seifer had flown but couldn't find his body anywhere. "Seifer?" She called hesitantly. She wanted Seifer to hear her, but was afraid of anything else hearing her. That's the kind of psychological fear the darkness could give you: to be afraid of being heard and too scared to cry for help. "Where are you?" She whispered.

She had no flashlight which would be really helpful right about now. Maybe there was one back in the car somewhere. If she found it she could find Seifer without making any noise easier. Fujin march-limped determinedly back to the heap of twisted metal and searched the glove compartment. Voila, she found it! Fujin turned it on at once and a beam of light emitted from her tool. Maybe Seifer had gone farther than she thought. She went further than she had gone before and scanned the environment desperately. Looking for any clues as to where her vampire friend might be.

"Seifer," she whispered. About 15 minutes into her searching and she had made a good distance away from the car. Fujin was getting desperate and on the verge of tears. She slumped to the ground in defeat. _He'll turn up soon. He has to. He can't die after all he's a vampire. _That didn't mean he was invincible, though. Her shoulders began trembling with fear. _Why am I so distraught? Is it because he's the closest thing to a real friend I've ever had? _Her thoughts were interrupted when a twig snapped behind her. She shot up and moved her flashlight left to right in the direction she had heard the sound. Nothing…

She had read somewhere that you could find your friends and loved ones in the dark with a simple touch of light. The only catch was that if you used that light it attracted monsters that dwelled with in that darkness. Fujin was too scared to turn her flashlight off. If she were to be killed by that huge monster that crashed the car, she'd die with light by her side. There was silence. She had imagined it. But then a hand covered her mouth and dragged her resisting body behind a tree. This was it. She was going to be killed by a monster and if she screamed, she'd only attract its family and they'd rip her apart just for fun. She was turned around to face the beast, but she was met with sharp yet gentle jade eyes instead.

It was indeed a monster. But this particular monster was her savior. "Where the hell you been, kid? I've been looking all over this damned place for you. I went back to the car and you weren't there," Seifer explained. He had cuts on his face from the glass window, but they were already healing as expected. And a bruised shoulder from when he landed on the ground, which was also healing.

"I was looking for you," Fujin replied relieved. Seifer raised his eyebrow. There was no time to point out that she had just articulated a full sentence. Seifer had other things on his mind.

"Listen, we gotta get outta here. There are werewolves in these woods. I can smell them," Seifer said bitterly with a snarl. "It's what hit us on the road."

"I saw one earlier I think. It's watching us and it wants to eat us," Fujin added. "How are we going to get out of here?" She began crying again.

"First off I want you to calm down! Your fear might attract them." To Seifer's relief she immediately cut off the faucets. You see that light up there? That's the light from the car. We're gonna head towards it. Once we reach it, we're gonna climb up that hill we fell down and the road should be pretty close after that. If one of those fuckers shows up and has me cornered, which is highly unlikely, Fu I'm not kidding I want you to run."

Fujin wasn't a stubborn girl. But that didn't stop her from being a concerned person. "Well what about you?"

Seifer opened his jacket and drew hyperion from his waist. "I have this for a reason," he explained. He took the picture of Zell out of his pocket and handed it to Fujin. "And that's my reason to live through this." Fujin put the picture in her pocket and held on to it for Seifer for the time being. "Stay close to me," Seifer commanded. You didn't have to tell her twice.

The duo had made their way quietly through the forest with the aid of a single flashlight. Seifer led the way while Fujin stayed in back and shadowed him. No one was ready for what happened next. A large beast on two legs dropped from a tree and snarled at the two. Without thinking Fujin did what she had been told. She ran ahead up the hill towards the assuring moonlight praying for Seifer's safety.

"Alright you big piece of dumb fuck, get ready for the ass kickin' of your life."

The beast growled in response and lunged at Seifer at top speed. Seifer, also at top speed, put his Hyperion in front of him to block the attack. The werewolf's claw chipped off and fluttered in the air like a drunken butterfly. The beast growled an angry roar and stood on its hind legs. It towered several feet over Seifer and appeared to be male. He had brown mangy fur and huge caterpillar-vein forearms and feet, a long snout and black sharp claws at the tips of all ten digits. The wolf had a torso and chest like it had been lifting weights and taking steroids. Seifer sized his opponent up. It has been a while since he fought a werewolf. He stretched the kinks out of his neck and lunged at the wolf but he scampered out of the way and swiped at Seifer's leg with his claws.

Seifer jumped and smacked the werewolf in the face with the flat side of his gunblade making him do a side flip. Seifer's managed to save his leg and with his opportunity he charged the monster that was now on all fours and stuck him in the ribcage. The larger monster wailed in agony with a shocked expression on its face. Seifer wasn't ready for the werewolf's arm to swing into him at full force and knock him into a far away tree.

The vampire cursed himself at having been thrown into a tree for the second time that night. He shook the wooziness off of his head and crawled to his feet.

His gunblade was still stuck in the large beast's side. The werewolf pulled it out and threw it like a spear at Seifer. Luckily he saw that coming from a mile away and back flipped the speeding blade into the air with his booted foot. The blade fluttered above his head like a ceiling fan from hell and seemed to stay in the air for an extra cheating second. Just enough time for Seifer to land on the muddy ground and spring right back into a front flip. He had enough power from his foot and hit the sword on the handle at just the right time to send it hurling back at the monster. It landed right in his mouth and protruded out of the back of its throat.

The werewolf landed on the back of its impaled skull and made a thud that shook trees. Seifer walked up to the werewolf with caution. He looked at the beast's eyes and was satisfied when he saw that they had rolled back into its head. He grabbed Hyperion by the handle and pulled it harshly out of the monster's throat. The werewolf was definitely dead.

Was it just him, or had these things gotten bigger since the last time he saw one? It was like they had grown at least an extra foot, Seifer decided. He left the corpse after realizing that he'd probably be worrying Fujin sick if she was on her own for too long again.

He caught up to her on the main road. "Hey, kid. I ripped his balls off and- **OMF!!**"

Seifer never got to give an exaggerated play by play of his recent victory, because Fujin had tackled him in a bone crushing hug. "IDIOT!" She cried. Tears were falling from her uncovered eye. "Don't ever leave me again, asshole!"

Seifer could do nothing but hold the teenager back. He never felt this feeling before. His life was filled with darkness and coldness. No one ever gave him a hug or a kiss or anything related. Now he knew why he needed Fujin with him. To feel wanted and accepted by someone, and embraced by someone who never judged you. That feeling was just too intense to ever let go, especially for someone like Seifer.

He hugged the trembling scared girl back and realized what that feeling was. Whether he liked to admit it or not he had already felt it, but wasn't ready to embrace it. It was love. There was more of this feeling out there, but would he have to overcome his fear of it and search, or just let it come to him?

**A/N: Wow that chapter felt good to write! I love meeting tough guys and making them soft. Don't worry I won't do that to Seifer, but isn't it nice to know he has a fluffy side? Spending a weekend in Florida will do that! That's where I've been BTW XD. Anyway don't forget to review!!**


	11. Clash of the Clans Pt 1

A/N: YAY

**A/N: Characters are slightly more goofy in the more relaxed scenes than usual due to stressful situations.!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Warning(s): Contains lemon and lime scenes! Also, a gore warning would be appropriate for this chapter. It's time to say goodbye to one of our characters TT.**

**Chapter 11: Clash of the Clans Pt 1**

**Squall**

Laharl dodged his best friend's gunblade and tried to use the momentum to knock him off balance. But deep down, he knew that Squall's specialty with his revolver was far more superior than his own. Not only with sword fighting but pretty much everything else. Since they had come out of their separate mothers' wombs at birth, it had been a competition for attention and nothing much had changed. Squall had more minions: "Papa we have to get more minions," Laharl would say. Squall had more girlfriends: "Hey, ladies look what I can do!" Laharl would attempt to sway them. Squall had more money: "Well my father owns a portion of the global marketing company," Laharl would half-lie. Squall was better looking: "…" Ha Laharl couldn't do shit 'bout _that_ now could he?

Though Laharl was not ugly by any means at all, Squall knew how to use his looks better. Squall had a dark shadowed loner look that attracted people to him. Laharl was bubbly and social like soap suds that sometimes repelled people. They were complete opposites of each other; however no two souls could have been better matched for friends. Squall did a somersault over Laharl and flung sparks in his eye by scraping his sword against the metal battle ground. Sparks flew into one of his eyes and staggered him temporarily. He felt the kick come from Squall landing him flat on his ass, giving the match to Squall. The audience in the arena applauded Squall for his expected victory. The next pair began to fight as Squall and Laharl cleared out of the arena in Squall's castle.

Squall walked over to Laharl and helped him up. "Man I almost one that one, Squall," Laharl complained while running his hands through his sweat soaked violet hued locks. "Don't you think it would be okay to let me win just once?"

Squall smirked at his slightly more immature best friend. "If I let you win, what would you learn?"

"That you have generosity and understanding?" He replied hopefully.

"Not on your life," Squall answered. They laughed and walked outside on the castle grounds. The cool chilly air felt good on their sweat soaked skin. After a duel they usually sat down outside and cooled off for a while before pursuing another activity.

Laharl pulled his long black-purple hair back into a ponytail. "So how long are you staying this time, Squall?" he asked already knowing the answer will give only brief results.

"I'm leaving tomorrow."

Laharl closed his eyes calmly. Although he couldn't say he wasn't expecting that, his best friend's sudden departure still shocked him. Squall never stayed still for more than a few days at the castle. "I see. Thanks for telling me on such short notice," he replied sarcastically.

Squall sighed and said, "You know what the situation is. Besides I've been here nearly 3 weeks and there's something back in Deiling I don't want to miss."

"Yeah, I _do_ know, Squall. But I'm having a little trouble swallowing it all down: You're leaving again to pursue a marriage that will never work, and leaving one that _will_ work behind. I don't get it, but I definitely get you. I always have, Squall," Laharl finished encouragingly.

"Nice to know someone is on my side," Squall chuckled.

"Always, bro. By the way you never told me how you got that scar."

"I have competition with my target. Don't worry it's nothing I can't handle."

"I see. Well if you ever need assistance don't be afraid to call. And Squall, promise me one thing before you leave."

"Yeah anything."

"Whomever you _do_ marry, the Chick or the Chicken, let me be best man at your wedding."

Squall laughed in relief. "As if you really had to ask."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Later that evening,Squall stepped out of his shower and dried off cold driblets of water that clung to his rough skin. It was refreshing to get all the grime off of his skin from sparing with Laharl. His bathroom was connected to his chambers in the west wing. It had been his home since he was a child and he had always occupied the least populated part of his father's castle. Part of his cold loner nature.

He laid on his back on his large bed clad in only a towel. He had a lot on his mind, and most of them were worries. He didn't fear rejection because he had never felt it before. You can't fear something you'll never have done to you right?

He was right. But, he wanted more than that. The vampire kingdom was controlled by power and male dominance and his species had always gotten what they wanted with those types of tools. But wouldn't it be good to gain something the old fashioned way? The _normal_ way? The human way?

Squall wasn't human though and he would be shunned by society for having human-like thoughts. He didn't know those types of feelings because in his would they didn't really matter. He wanted them to matter. Zell made him want them to matter. Zell was a flower. A lilac if you would: purple for innocence of a child and white for awakening first true feelings of affection.

He couldn't wait to leave tomorrow and hopefully see his object of desire. He remembered the first time in the Owler Inn foyer Squall had flirted for the first time in his life. It was awkward, because vampires never flirted with each other, urges could just be acted upon. Like the strong sexual urges Squall felt towards Zell when he was around or when he even thought of him. The kind he was experiencing right now beneath his towel.

He removed his shower garment and tossed it to the floor. He salivated in the palm of his hand immediately began to stroke himself. Thoughts of Zell flooded his mind as he pleasured himself on his bed. Instead of him jacking himself off, Zell was going down on him, with that cute yet naughty mouth of his. Squall took the fingers of his other hand and toyed with his balls, which were full of cum ready to be released onto his stomach.

He hadn't done this in a long time and forgot how good it felt, but it was depressing because it reminded him of the naturally yellow haired angel that was so hard to reach. He was wrong for wanting to feel human emotions. He was wrong for desiring an angel, and one whom he should never be allowed to touch, he was wrong to want life after birth and not just to fuck like Seifer wanted. He wished he could be more like Seifer. He was wrong for wanting to marry a hume and wanting a family out of that said hume, but all of that aside, the feeling of what he could possibly have enveloping him of made his mind go crazy and he shot hot cum out of the head of his cock, the name of his obsession on his tongue. "Zell…"

He panted real thoughts back to his mind and wiped the mess of with his towel. He hadn't done that in a while, he thought again. He saved up a lot of fluids he could have used on Zell and still had more. Once you do this type of thing, you realize you want to do it again, but Squall resisted his body for once. He'd save up again to be with Zell next time. He was slightly less stressed now and it helped him sleep. Tomorrow, Zell would be _his._

**Zell**

Here it finally was: the first day of college. Zell and Irvine were walking down a hallway headed to their morning class and holding hands. They had been dating for the past few weeks. Zell was about to break Irvine's hand in anticipation.

"Ouch! Ellie you're hurting me!" the cowboy cried.

Zell blushed and put his hand by his side. "Sorry, Irvine. I'm a little nervous. Somehow I wasn't expecting college to be this crowded. Nothing like high school you know?" Zell asked while trying to dodge other students left and right.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Zell had expected his classes to drag since it was the first day. Boy, was he wrong wrong wrong! No time was wasted in handing out homework and syllabi for the rest of the term. It was completely up to Zell to make sure he got his work done on time.

After they were done with their morning classes, Zell and Irvine decided to go have lunch together in the courtyard. Zell had wanted hot dogs, but they were sold out. "What the fuck!? Lunch just started!" He shrieked at the lunch lady.

"Umm I'm sorry, try again earlier tomorrow and we may have more." She looked like she had been frightened by the little dancer's outburst. Irvine had to put his tray down to restrain Ellie from jumping over the table and strangling her.

When Irvine led him safely to a table with a sandwich he explained, "Don't worry, I'll make you some tonight for dinner. How's that sound?"

Zell cheered up a little and ate his sandwich. They were soon joined by Selphie, Quistis and Nida. Selphie was first to approach the table and gave Irvine a very cheery greeting with a hug, and nothing for Zell. She was bitter about them dating, as expected.

Quistis and Nida arrived and sat down next to each other and stared questioningly at Zell and Irvine. "What?" Irvine asked.

Nida spoke nervously and said, "Well we were just wondering. Have you two had sex yet?"

Zell almost choked on his carton of apple juice and began coughing and turning red all over. "Why do you wanna know that?" Irvine asked regarding Zell's choking fit.

"You two have been spending a lot of time together so we've all been curious is all," Quistis explained. Selphie was staring wide-eyed at the two anticipating an answer.

Irvine was phased by the question. He didn't know whether to lie for himself or tell the truth for Ellie. "Ummm, well we-"

"Don't have to answer that. Maybe we did, maybe we didn't. The only reason you're interested in that is because your sex life is probably fucked up," Zell answered harshly.

The whole table was stunned into silence. Quistis turned red because some of that was true. "He has a point," Selphie added. Everyone looked at her in shock. She was actually taking up for Zell? Zell was surprised most of all.

The bell rung and everyone gathered their belongings, preparing to part ways. "So maybe I'll see you later on tonight?" Irvine asked.

Zell stood up and put his bag around his waist. He stopped short for a moment. Zell having to admit to himself that he was a virgin and in college, was embarrassing to him, he thought. How had he stayed a virgin for so long anyway? Was he just waiting for the right girl? A lot of good that did for him now since he practically had a boyfriend (one that he wasn't sleeping with, but still). Snapping at Nida like that wasn't right, but Zell wasn't the only one who had a point. Nida did as well. Why hadn't he and Irvine had sex yet? After all, Zell did tell Seifer the next time they saw each other he'd be taken. When would he live up to that oath? Tonight, Zell decided.

Zell grabbed the front of Irvine's duster and pulled him close to his own shorter body. He kissed him fiercely and stuck his tongue down Irvine's throat. Spontaneous? Yes. Crazy? Yes. Weird? Well…yes. Zell never thought in a million years that he'd initiate a make out session with one of Galbadia's hottest upper-classmen. Not to mention in front of a wide-eyed Selphie, Flustered Quistis, embarrassed Nida, and a stunned student body.

When Zell broke away, he released Irvine's duster and fixed the wrinkles in it. "You will _DEFINITELY_ see me later on tonight," Zell replied making sure Irvine got the double meaning. He winked and turned around making sure he walked past Nida while giving him an attitude look at the same time. He didn't stick around for Nida's scolding.

"Dood," Nida began with drool dribbling down his chin, "Drill a hole through your wall tonight. I can't miss this!" Quistis backhanded Nida upside the head and watched him wince in pain.

"What did you learn?" she scolded her boyfriend like a bad puppy.

"Don't scam other guys when you're around," Nida glowered while rubbing the back of his aching head.

"Good boy," Quistis replied satisfied but then her brain clicked. "Wait a fucking minute! You're not even gay!"

Nida blushed. "Yeah well, you're kind of a prude and haven't been giving me any kooch lately. Can you blame me for wanting to see whatever action I can?"

Quistis' eyes grew wide.

It was time for Zell to head to the veterinary building. He walked quickly across the field trying to get away from the scene he had just made. What he had basically done, he summed up, was announce that he was going to sleep with Irvine tonight. He said it in front of the whole school!

This was bad. His first day, and Zell already made himself look like a slut who puts out. For what reason? To prove a point to shit-for brains-Nida? Why should he give a shit what that dweeb thinks, anyway? Now that Zell thought about the whole situation he didn't feel very smart. All he could do was go on about his quickly ending day and deal with the problem when he had to…which would be tonight…

Zell was so lost in thought he had only come back to his thoughts when he realized he wasn't walking on grass anymore, but the deeply sanitized linoleum floor of an animal clinic. It was here where he'd spend half his time developing his future. Again, if fate allowed him to, there was always that undertone of dying any day now. Not exactly dying as of late, but getting raped and then dying, which is another reason why he had to sleep with Irvine as quickly as possible.

Zell looked at his map and followed it to his classroom. The door was open and he walked anxiously into a room with rectangular windows and lots of plants in almost every corner of the room. At least he made it to class on time. The room was pretty quiet when he arrived, but once the lab had begun things (frogs) got pretty noisy.

The slicing of the little creatures was nauseating to Zell. They had been paired up for the lab. Zell was paired up with a pale looking youth with violet hair who looked like he would throw up before he even saw the inside of the already deceased frog. "Are you gonna be okay?" Zell asked.

"Yeah I can handle it. I'll just take notes while you do all the slicing though, okay?" the boy confirmed.

"Umm…right. What was your name again?"

"It's Laharl."

"Oh. I'm Ellie. Listen, you might wanna look away. I think if you throw up by watching me do this, I might throw up on you so…"

**Irvine**

Irvine paced around in his room nervously. He didn't know why he was so jumpy. He'd had sex a million times with numerous people in high school and in the past year. Before he had met Ellie he was a low-key pimp. Why was the thought of doing it with Ellie so distracting? He'd thought about it before and even dreamt about it (much to his bed sheets' dismay). He wanted this to be perfect.

Irvine looked into the mirror a thousand times and made sure his ponytail was decent and his teeth were spinach-free. Should he be naked when Ellie got here? No. That'd be too forward. He'd try the more subtle approach. By pretending he had forgotten all about it. He wouldn't be the first to initiate a sexual encounter with Ellie. If he did and Ellie didn't want it, then he'd be embarrassed for pushing the situation.

He sat on the couch and turned the T.V. on. When Ellie came through the door Irvine was innocently watching Dancing with the stars with no sign of the boner he once had. Ellie laid his bag on the drop off table and gave a warm smile to Irvine. "Hey," he greeted.

Irvine looked up as if he just noticed Ellie come in. "Oh hey there. How was your day?"

"Ugh. A little messy. I had to do some weird stuff in Pre-vet. Oh and I made a new friend too."

"Oh really? Who?" Small talk was going smoothly.

"A guy named Laharl. He was really nice. A little goofy, but nice...anyway what about you? I didn't see you until after lunch."

Ellie had almost touched the topic of conversation that occurred at lunch. "I played football with some of the guys and went to class. Then I went to Mr. Gesper's office and helped him strip his…(**heavy breathing**)," Zell had begun to change right in front of Irvine. "Walls," he finally finished.

"That must have been fun… You in the mood for some more fun?" Zell asked innocently, however the playful sexual meaning was still there.

Irvine stared Ellie up and down. From his small bare feet that hid nervously in Irvine's carpet up slim almost hairless legs. To his flexed thighs from walking in heels to small hips that made c shapes in blue boxer briefs. To his inny navel to his toned six-pac and perky tan nipples. All the way up to Ellie's beautiful blue eyes and dark black hair. Irvine swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yeah. I wanna have fun," he said eagerly.

Irvine was going to stand up and soil Ellie with hands that were just itching to grab a hold of him. He needed to touch that supple feminine body. Ellie halted him. "No stay there. I wanna have some fun too."

Zell walked over and straddled Irvine's lap, grounding his meaty thighs into Irvine's groin. He held back his moan as Ellie gave him a lap dance.

Ellie kissed Irvine's neck and down to his collar bone. Zell had a chick friend in middle school who had taught him how to leave hickeys. She had done it to him and now Zell was doing it to Irvine. He could hear Irvine grunting above him and confirmed that he was doing it right. He could also feel Irvine's erection stabbing into his thigh. Zell didn't mind. It was _his _boyfriend. Zell pulled back and admired the bruise he left.

Their eyes moved to each others and they kissed with their tongues. Irvine could feel himself getting more and more excited and wished he could just skip this foreplay. But this is what made sex worth it. He grabbed Ellie's hips and thrust his concealed dick against Ellie's bare torso telling him what he wanted.

It felt a little intimidating to Ellie. It was so big and hard that it made him nervous. Irvine could feel the tenseness in Ellie's body when he grounded his pelvis into Ellie's stomach. Irvine didn't want Ellie to be afraid of his dick this early in the game so he tipped them sideways so that he had Ellie underneath him on the sofa, hoping that would distract him. Fuck moving to the bedroom, Irvine thought. He was gonna get laid tonight right here in the living room. Ellie was aroused and he was sure Irvine could feel his erection as well.

Irvine stood up on his knees in between Ellie's legs and took his own shirt off over his head. From Ellie's view it was really sexy. After Irvine tossed his shirt to the side he bent down and attacked Ellie's neck, leaving red bruises on his shoulder and collar bone. While he did this he rubbed Ellie's nipple and when he was done with his neck he moved his mouth down to his nipple and sucked fiercely. "Oh my God!" Ellie shrieked. That felt really good and sent a shiver down his stomach and to his groin.

Irvine sucked furiously and held Ellie in place with his calloused hands as he squirmed into the cushions.

A potential problem occurred in the middle of Irvine's administrations. The house phone rang in Irvine's dorm. It didn't seem to bother Irvine one bit, but it was distracting Zell from the task at hand.

"Umm, Irvine. Are you gonna get that?" Zell asked.

"Nu uh," was all he bothered to grunt.

The answering machine picked up: _Hey, Irvine it's me Selphie. You're probably with Ellie right now so I'll just make this short. I wanted to thank you for the lovely lunch this afternoon. We should do it again sometime. Anyway I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Ellie I said 'hi' __**!click!**_

__Zell froze underneath Irvine. Throughout the whole message Irvine had never stopped sucking on Zell's body. He was leaving hicky's on his ribs when Zell had began to move uncomfortably. "Irvine?"

He hadn't looked up and was trying to take off Ellie's underwear. "Irvine!"

"Huh?"

"We need to talk."

Irvine looked to the left then to the right. "Right now? I was sort of getting ready to-"

"Yeah I know but I don't know if I can do this," Zell began to sit up but Irvine genty pushed him back down on the couch.

"But we were so close, I wanna-"

"Irvine, no…get off."

Irvine sat up and sat on the opposite side of the couch. He watched Ellie get up and gather his clothes and hastily put them on. "What's wrong? We were doing good."

"I'm not ready for this," Zell answered flatly. He had his back turned to Irvine and his hard on.

Ellie was starting to annoy Irvine by being so cryptic. Irvine stood up and approached Ellie. "I think there's more to it than that. You're hiding something from me," he accused.

"I'm hiding something? You're the one goin' on dates with Selphie behind my back," Zell accused right back.

"What!? Is that what this is about!? Her grandmother passed away and she called me over for a shoulder to cry on and I fixed her a snack, _that's it!_"

"Oh I'll bet that's all you did," Zell said bitterly. "I know about you, Mister Big Shot. I know about how you and Selphie have a thing going on. She's so jealous of me I don't know how you don't see it! God you're so blind!" Zell began to shout.

"I'm blind!? You're the one who can't see that I clearly only like you. And it sounds to me like you're the one who is jealous of Selphie." Zell had gasped in the middle of Irvine's refutation, but the taller of the two ignored it and kept talking. "You can't say that I'm the one running around with other girls either, when you let all those guys touch you every night. I'm tired of you working at that strip-whore joint but I don't say anything about it do I? And on top of that, you've been teasing me ever since you met me. You were afraid to let me kiss you or touch you! Now that we actually go out you won't let me FUCK you!? What kind of sense does that make, Ellie? Enlighten me please..."

It was obvious that this had been annoying Irvine for along time. He was about to cross the line in a minute. Zell was too angry at Irvine and Selphie to calm down and just go to his own dorm just yet. "I do _not _let guys touch me every night! Half the people who go to Incubus _wish_ they could do half the things I let you get away with. Irvine, are you serious-'I work at a strip-whore joint?' It wasn't a fucking strip-whore joint when you met me there and asked me out now was it? It was all good back then, huh? Could you blame me for not lettin' you touch me? Guys like you get off on messing up boys like us' minds. You only want one thing anyway!"

"'Guys like me' huh?" Irvine advanced on Zell and backed him into the door. Zell was going to turn his back on Irvine and leave him alone with his anger, but as soon as he opened the door, Irvine's hand slammed the door shut and he towered over the brunette. "So what kind of guy am I, Ellie? Because the way you said it made me sound like some sort of shameless pimp. Well let me tell you something: If I were a pimp I would have already pimp slapped your ass and made you my slut along time ago. But, since you seem to put out for everyone else but me, I guess I'm not very good at my job huh, you little whore?"

Zell tried not to look at Irvine the whole time he spoke. His eyes were burning and tears threatened to fall. He looked at the floor and saw a drop fall on Irvine's bare foot. Suddenly that emotional blow transformed into anger. Zell hated guys. He really did. They seemed to be real assholes these days. Without thinking, he punched Irvine in the face staggering him back and landing his ass on the floor.

When the room stopped spinning he saw the face of an angel standing above him. He was smiling with blond hair and a beautiful Aztec mark on his face. Suddenly he transformed into a demonic figure with jet black hair and sad lighting orbed eyes. It spoke, "I can't believe I was gonna give my virginity to an asshole." All that could be heard was the opening and closing of a door. Possibly even the sound of a heart breaking. Zell had been a virgin? Irvine sighed and laid on the floor ignoring his bloody nose. He had royally fucked up…

**Nida**

Before Nida knew it he was hit in the face with the flat surface of the door he was spying through. "Ouch! What gives!?" he asked while holding his almost broken nose.

Ellie stared down at Nida in confusion. "That's what I could ask you, you pervert. Were you spying on us through a hole you drilled in our-I mean _his_ door?" he asked staring back and forth from Nida and Irvine's door.

Nida blushed. "Well you said you were gonna give my best friend some action tonight…" he explained.

Ellie stared in silence with his lips pursed. "So…then, that makes it okay to see what actually happens… you're so-you know what, forget it. I don't get you and your friend. But you can tell him that we're through," he affirmed.

Nida got up and put his nose back into place. "But, you guys had something good. Don't let a big misunderstanding get in the-**omph!**" Zell had pushed him back on his butt and stormed past him outside.

"Dammit!" Nida grunted. He got up again for the second time and stormed into Irvine's room and saw Irvine on the ground catering to his face. "You too huh? Man, he's scary when he's mad. Maybe you should go apologize…I saw the whole thing you know?"

"Really? Then you should know that he'll never let me speak to him again then. So why even bother? He hates me now."

"Because, Irvine you haven't settled down with a decent girl _or _guy ever since you realized what you could do with that god given charm. Now that you have, you're just gonna throw it away? Don't you see that this means something? Ellie obviously is important to you or why would you bother? If you don't go after him you're a fool. Besides, you know I don't even need to be telling you this to let you know what you're about to do in 5-4-3-2-"

"You're right, Nida-gotta go!," Irvine exclaimed while dashing out of his own room and chasing after Ellie.

"I know I am! Now go after him!"

Nida was left alone in Irvine's apartment.

**Selphie**

Selphie laid on her belly on her bed in her comfy dorm that she shared with Quistis. She was alone with her thoughts and didn't really have any interest in where her uptight friend might be. Probably out screwing her boyfriend. Selphie wished she had a boyfriend. She wished that Ellie would never have come into the picture.

Selphie saw how Irvine's attitude had changed ever since they had met the dark haired kid. He smiled more and whistled songs as if he were in love. Selphie had stopped being bitter about their relationship for some time. But she couldn't get over the fact that she had been beaten by a boy who he barely knew. A boy who she couldn't compete with.

There wasn't any thing wrong with Ellie, now that Selphie thought about it. In fact he was the male opposite of her it seemed. They _did _have quite a bit in common. As long as Irvine was happy she would be happy. And she could feel herself growing a soft spot for Ellie along the way. Could she see herself being friends with him? Maybe not just too soon.

Irvine had always been there for her. Like when he was there for her earlier today when she got a call from her parents saying that her grandmother had died. Irvine had calmed her down a lot. Now Irvine would only let Ellie cry on his shoulders. It wasn't fair. It felt like her best friend was being taken…She'd just have to deal with it until she could find someone of her own. But right now she needed to stop being a bitch to Ellie and thank Irvine for comforting her today, she realized half heartedly. She picked up the phone in her dorm and dialed Irvine's room. The machine picked up. She rolled her eyes and realized that Irvine never usually left anywhere this late. He and Ellie were probably busy, or went out. She left a message instead.

"Hey, Irvine it's me Selphie. You're probably with Ellie right now so I'll just make this short. I wanted to thank you for the lovely lunch this afternoon. We should do it again sometime. Anyway I'll see you tomorrow. Tell Ellie I said 'hi'." **!click!**

There! That had made her feel a whole lot better. After that, a drunken Quistis had burst into she and Selphie's dorm room in an obviously disgruntled state. Eyes red and puffy from tears of stress, blonde locks not combed every hour like normal, and on top of that, she looked like she had been trying to drink her problems away…

"Quistis!? What's wrong? I thought you were with Nida. Have you been crying?" The short brunette asked with worry.

"Don't say his name! That bastard! He dumped me!! How dare he! 'm lak a top honor student and he dumped meh! I was half a virgin when I met 'im ykno? **!BURP!**" When Quistis let out that belch the room suddenly smelled like a bachelor's party a Gentlemen's tavern. The chick was piss drunken.

Selphie was in no state to deal with this. After all her grandmother did croak…"Listen, hon, you need to get some sleep. You're a wreck right now. We'll deal with this tomorrow okay?" Selphie got up and guided her friend to her own bed across the nightstand from Selphie's

The inebriated blonde was about to agree (submit to the alcohol rather) to Selphie's plea, but a tan blurr passing by the window and a loud crash outside changed both their minds.

"What was that?" Quistis sat up and asked.

"Be right back. STAY _HERE. _I mean it," Selphie commanded.

She left Quistis in her room and headed down the flight of steps that led to the dark grounds. The crash had come from outside, like someone had jumped from the roof and landed on the ground. Selphie scanned the moonlit ground and saw huge footprints. Had Bigfoot fallen from the sky, she thought. When she looke up she noticed it was a full moon out. It was pretty, she thought.

There was a park across the field. She should have just returned back to her dorm and left it at that, whoever had made that noise could just as well be long gone, but no, the stubborn brunette followed the foot prints to the park a few yards away. She heard a noise coming from the swing set. It looked like someone was over there crying. Great. More Cry-babies, she thought.

Examining the person's back closer she realized they looked familiar. One of the smallest guys she knew. "Ellie?" She called. "Is that you?"

The boy turned around , looked at Selphie and turned right back around again and blew his nose. "Hi, Selphie. What can I do for you?"

Selphie sat down on the swing next to him. "Well nothin', I was actually hoping I could help _you_." This was the first time the two had been alone together. Now there was no need to put up fronts in front of their friends.

"You mean besides think of more ways to steal my boyfriend? Look no further, he's all yours. I just broke up with him," he explained to a wide-eyed Selphie.

"What!? Why?"

"Why do you sound so surprised? Isn't this what you wanted?"

Selphie remained silent for a while and watched the boy continue to sob quietly into the palms of his hand. She didn't realize how sensitive he was. He was fragile than most chicks she knew. Ellie, Selphie observed, seemed to have the emotional range of a Mexican woman…

She placed her arm around his trembling shoulders. "At first, yeah…this is what I wanted. But I was just about ready to move on and accept the fact that Irvine was gone. I was even gonna try to get along with you better…sorry for what a bitch I've been, truce?" She put her other hand out for Ellie to shake

Ellie looked up at her. She had seen that face not too long ago. Quistis and Ellie seemed to be going through a difficult time. The best she could do was be a shoulder for them both to cry on. Ellie shook her hand. "Truce," he agreed. He sniffled some more. "He was gonna be my first…"

"…He still can be," Selphie reassured.

Ellie just shook his head. "It turns out he thinks a little more differently of me than I thought he did."

"Everyone has secrets…" was all Selphie could muster.

"Boy, isn't that right!?" an arrogant familiar voice rang through the air.

Zell had a short amount of time to even tense up from when Seifer Almasy spoke, to the time he emerged out of the shadows. "Especially, 'Ellie'" he mocked. "Did you know that 'Ellie' has deep dark secrets that you couldn't even imagine?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Selphie asked curiously.

"Forget it! Let's just get out of here," Zell pleaded tugging on Selphie's arm.

"Hey there, cutie. Name's Seifer. I'm Ellie's boyfriend."

Selphie gasped in shock and stared accusingly at Zell. "No! he's _not_ my boyfriend. You're _not _my boyfriend!" Zell said the second sentence even more sternly.

"Says you," he replied. Seifer and Fujin had finally healed up and had gone looking for Chicken. He was happy to find him without that other guy.

Zell grabbed his friend and tried to escape from the park. Seifer was about to chase after them, but only got a few feet when his target stopped dead in his tracks. All of a sudden Seifer smelled a foul stench in the air and was looking at the face of where it came from.

"Hi, Zell," Squall said nervously.

"Okay this is getting weird! Who are _they_!?" Selphie demanded. "And why did he just call you Zell?"

Squall had been there for only two minutes and Zell looked like he was about to have a nervous break down from the looks of things. "I told you he'd be here," Laharl muttered to him.

"Hey!" Zell cried. "You're the kid from before in vet class! Call the police! These two are gonna hurt each other and everyone else!"

Laharl laughed demonically. "Don't worry. We don't need the police to protect you from those two. We'll take care of you ourselves."

The color drained from Zell's face. "You mean you're-"

Laharl nodded and grinned evilly. "Zell, would you like to come with me to my castle?" Squall asked quietly.

Before Zell could refuse Seifer had said, "Wow, you've gotta be the pussiest vampire I ever laid eyes on." Zell and Selphie turned their attention back to Seifer. Squall glared at the blond demon. He had tried to ignore the stench of the other vampire the whole time he had approached the scene. "Who asks their prey to come home with them? You're of royal blood and you can't even catch a simple runt?"

"Hey!" Zell pouted from the insult, but was immediately spoken over.

"Laharl. Do me a favor and entertain our guests while I take care of this sad excuse for a vampire," Squall ordered

Before Selphie could repeat the word "vampire?" Laharl flashed between Selphie and Zell and dragged them away from the fight that was about to occur.

"Hey getoffa me, you scum bag!" Selphie cried. "This is no way to treat a lady!"

"No!" Zell struggled, but Laharl's grip was tight with just one hand.

"Try to run away and I'll snap your legs," the newest vampire threatened. Selphie wondered what she had been dragged into.

"I can't believe you were my lab partner just to tell your friend where I am!" Zell accused.

Laharl just ignored the two captives and observed the two rivaling vampires.

Squall drew his sword ignoring the two students' protests in the distance. Seifer did the same. Without small talk this time, Seifer lunged at Squall first with Hyperion. He struck an upward slash that missed Squall by a hair. Squall ducked and parried, then swung his leg under Seifer's feet in a roundhouse motion. He spun on the ball of his foot while in a crouched position then adjusted his weight so that he could spring off the ground like a frog and slice in an upward motion.

Their blades had made contact for the first time that evening as Seifer did a double handed block. Squall tried to press his weight up on Seifer's guard to cut him, but an obvious note is that what Seifer lacked in speed he made up for in upper body strength, where as Squall claimed agility. Squall really needed to know that, Seifer thought.

The raven haired vampire was shoved off forcefully and kicked in the stomach, with Seifer's hard boot. Squall clutched his gut with his free hand while trying to block power blows with his weaker left hand. Eventually, Seifer's strength was overwhelming on Squall's left arm and he dropped his sword on the ground and defended himself freely.

He led Seifer to believe that he was at a disadvantage without a sword, but to tell the truth Squall felt like he wasn't wearing any underwear, and it felt good! He grabbed Seifer's sword wielding arm as it tried to stick him in the heart and shoulder bumped the tall solid man as hard as his slimmer body could. It had worked, because Seifer grunted and dropped his sword staggering back.

Annoyed, Seifer rolled up his sleeves. "I've had it with you, ya little shit!" Seifer put up his dukes street style and swung on Squall.

He had managed to blast Squall in his jaw and almost snapping his neck as he whirled around. Seifer grabbed his collar and punched him in the face and stomach a few times.

"YOU BASTARD!" Laharl screamed. He charged at Seifer full speed. Seifer thought he was ready for the attack, but the short little fucker got even lower and punched him in the solar plexus. Seifer immediately dropped Squall to the ground and gasped for air from the floor. Laharl took no pity and back flipped off of Seifer's face, making him do one as well and landing on his stomach.

It would take more than that, Seifer thought. The taller man popped right back up but before he could fight the other short new comer a gun-shot rang through the air making everyone jump.

Selphie and Zell, who had been trying to crawl away quietly while the devil children fought, fell from their knees to flat on their bellies and covering their heads. They didn't want to get shot…

When the bang had faded away, Zell looked up and smiled for the first time in hours (that was a long time for him by the way). There he stood, one eye covered with auburn hair and his black cowboy hat cocked to the side with his duster blowing in the cool night wind. He held a shotgun in his arms and he never looked more aware of his surroundings. Nevermind where Irvine had gotten a gun ore learned to use a gun. Seifer had looked at Zell, noticing his suddenly uplifted mood and became pissed off. "You three," he commanded. "Get away from my friends."

Nida came running behind Irvine out of breath. He most likely would have said something to emphasize Irvine's authority, but he had asthma and was trying to make his face turn back to its original color.

Squall rose to his feet and glared competitively at Irvine. Who was this man with the shot gun?

**Quistis**

Quistis stumbled down the stairs from her and Selphie's dorm. She had been in her room by her self for a while now and the alcohol was wearing off. Some of the noise from outside had woke her up and she thought she heard a few familiar voices. When she followed the commotion to the park, pure betrayal struck her drunken little blond soul.

**"**So this is where you've been!?" Quistis accused Selphie. "You're out here having a party and meeting all these hot guys and I'm in my room throwing up not having fun at all!" she whined.

Things couldn't have gotten anymore dramatic right now. Selphie couldn't totally focus on everything that was going on. But she knew Quistis wasn't safe, especially in her current state. "Quistis get outta-"

"Don't tell me to leave!" She pointed a polished red finger at a slightly better breathing Nida. "That bastard is going to know that I've moved on!" She exclaimed unaware that her thoughts were coming out of her mouth. She wasn't aware of the shadow looming over her either.

"Quistis-" Nida began in fear, but was cut off by the angry woman.

"Shut up, you you home-wrecker! You think I miss you already? Well I don't!" she began crying again, and her voice was contradicting her words. "Asshole…"

"Quis-" Irvine started with eyes wide open.

"I said quiet! Any friend of Nida is an asshole too!"

"Quistis! Behind you!" Zell screamed in horror.

She turned around confused but when she did she was ripped in half by a large deformed tan beast. No more thinking for Quistis because she was surely beyond mutilation. Blood splattered all over the grass and splashed a metal rocking horse. Her upper body laid on its back with a horrified expression on her face, half of her torso and down were nothing but tangled limbs and shredded meet where her stomach had been.

"Oh my god!" Selphie screamed in horror. She hid her face in Zell's shoulder. Zell stood her up and tried to run away. Two more werewolves had blocked their path.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" Nida screamed, tears running down his face. Forgetting all thought of asthma, fury fueled him and he charged the monster. Irvine fired his gun at the monster and not even the death of one of his friends could make him miss his target. But, the pain was still there in his stomach making him queasy at what he'd just seen happen to Quistis.

Squall and Laharl didn't care what happened to that human woman. As far as they were concerned they were only here to get Zell back to Esthar. Seifer had noticed the two werewolves advancing on Zell and Selphie first. They were drooling and snarling fiercely. "We gotta run Selphie! Move your legs!" Zell cried. Selphie stood shock still, her feet planted in the grass. Her heart had stopped moving and stopped pumping blood to her legs to make her run. She was numb with fear literally.

Three more werewolves had come to occupy the park, and charged towards Zell and Selphie. What could be attracting them in that direction? Maybe it was the smell of two scared virgins.

**TBC**

**A/N: HOMG! Man that was a long ass chapter. But I'm glad I finished it. I had to make a cliffy because it was getting too long, also because it builds suspense. Don't forget to review, you ungrateful leeches XP. heart**


	12. Clash of the Clans Pt 2

A/N: YAY

**A/N: Wow I can't believe I'm graduating this week. No more high school and no more snot faced ass teenagers! YAY!! Now I'll have more time to write since this is the end of the year! We've also reached our 4000****th**** hit! YAY!! Okay enough about me and my life! Here's part 2 of our Clash of the Clans Section.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Warning(s): Contains Gore, violence and of course swearing XD. **

**Chapter 12: Clash of the Clans Pt 2**

Nida's feet were propelled by the outward ripple of emotions from his ex-lover's death. Tears flew from the corners of his eyes and withered behind him into the wind as he shot across the grass. He had broken up with Quistis earlier that day on terms that could have been much better. When he saw the pieces of her body strewn across the ground, he immediately felt pangs of guilt and regret. They didn't need to break up, he realized. Just time apart…that was all…

When he had gotten close enough to the beast that slaughtered Quistis, he took off his belt in one quick motion, swung it across the werewolf's face and left a nice thick red gash over his left eye. Nida had become relentless with his whip made of snake-steel and continued beating it to death. The monster had more marks on it than a runaway slave; it never even got a chance to fight back or run away, not that Nida would ever have let it escape so easily. He finished off the game by wrapping his sharp whip around the monster's thick, muscular veiny neck and strangled it, spilling blood all over his own clothes.

Irvine snuck in a shot to the monster's head from behind Nida, making its eyes roll back. Nida finished it off by pressing a button underneath the belt buckle and gave it another tug. A disk inside his "belt" device sliced the dog's neck sloppily off of his beastly shoulders. Blood spurted up like a fountain and rained all over Nida. There were five werewolves and three vampires left from the human point of view. Zell and Selphie seemed to be the only ones shocked by Nida and Irvine's new found strength. Where did Irvine learn to fire a gun like an expert marksman, Zell thought. And when had Nida learned to convert a normal belt into a combat whip and use it better than a trained S & M Queen?

Seifer did a beeline in front of Zell (and Selphie), whom no one else had been watching at the moment, due to so much commotion going on. Two werewolves snarled at the scared teens Zell and Selphie. Seifer wondered whether he could defeat two werewolves at the same time. "Get outta here!" Seifer barked. Seifer's roar was somewhat scarier than the monsters' were. Zell grabbed Selphie and dashed away towards the housing buildings.

Seifer thought he'd be fighting a difficult battle, when one of the beasts in front of him took a bullet to its irregular looking kneecap and the werewolf favored it almost immediately. Irvine had come to help Seifer. "Hey, man you okay?" he asked. Seifer just glared at Zell's boyfriend in return and stabbed the other werewolf in the heart with Hyperion killing it. Irvine had disregarded the dirty look and shot either werewolf in the body repeatedly mixing blood with dew that was forming on the grass.

Meanwhile, the three newcomer werewolves were about to surround the two fleeing teens, but Nida, Laharl and Squall jumped in front of them and used their strength to push the dogs off. The group of 5 was surrounded by three werewolves. Nida, Laharl and Squall had formed a super trio around Selphie and Zell and had their backs toward them, weapons at the ready.

"Selphie-Zell," The blood covered Nida had said. "Run away!"

"Are you crazy?" Laharl exclaimed under his breath. "If they run they'll just get chased down like gazelles."

"Less talk, more kill," Squall interrupted when the drooling monsters had gotten tired of waiting for them to make a move.

The beasts, Squall had noticed, seemed to be attacking anyone who stood in the way of capturing Zell and his female friend. He also knew that the werewolves weren't here to kill Zell and her, but to capture them and take them to their lair. He also understood why that blonde haired girl had been killed tonight. But what he didn't understand was why Zell was being targeted along with the brunette. Their pursuit of Selphie was understandable; she was a virgin girl on her period. Her blood was attracting these monsters and their desire to pop her cherry in vicious cruel ways.

Nida swung his whip at his beast's large foot and making it limp towards him at a slower speed. He somersaulted over the wolf and wrapped his tool around its neck causing a rough struggle mark on its throat. Nida didn't have to worry about the werewolves large hands, because all though they were long and muscular like a man's, they weren't that flexible. Meaning they couldn't go around his back and stab Nida with its claws.

Squall had no difficulty defeating his werewolf. He threw his gunblade into the werewolf's face so it stuck there. The monster roared in pain and tried to pry the sword out with its oversized hands, but it wouldn't budge. This made the monster go into frenzy, but Squall swiftly planted his feet into the werewolf's chest and held onto the handle of his blade for leverage. Before pulling his blade out of the monster's snout, he pulled the trigger of his revolver model, blowing its head clean off of its shoulders. Squall's feet landed back on the grass. They didn't call it GUN-BLADE for nothing.

Then there was Laharl. He flexed his fingers so that his black claws shot from his human appearing hands. He got ready to fight melee, since he didn't bother bringing his crossbow with him. This would turn out to be a disadvantage for the violet haired vampire. Even at night clouds still roam the Earth. A cloud moved from in front of the moon and let the rays shine to its true potential. Not all beautiful things are good though. The moonlight surrounded the whole park with its glow and sparkled luminously off of the struggling werewolf's skin. The power of the moon fueled him and he went into overdrive and charged at Laharl. Laharl stuck his nails into the beasts shoulder and planted his feet into the grass, but his werewolf seemed to be stronger than the others' for some reason. It wasn't fair! He thought. Laharl was pushed back and made mud tracks in the ground like a semi-truck. He tried to resist by sticking his whole entire hand into the monster's body, but it was like the monster couldn't feel it.

Tired of this pest, the monster grabbed Laharl's arm and yanked his black claws out of his furry chest. He swung Laharl around and tossed his small vampire body into the distance. Far away he could be heard hitting something similar to concrete, and then landing in water. No one could be entirely sure. "Laharl!" Squall yelled. Squall and Nida were left to protect Zell and Selphie. "We have to get him out of the moonlight," Squall said to Nida. "He's going berserk and we won't defeat him like this."

It was pointless. Nida swiped at the werewolf with his steel whip. It just hit his skin like a spatula to a grill and made sparks even. Squall tried to slam the beast's skull in with the handle of his gunblade, but it felt like he was trying to chip away at a mountain. They both attempted to fell the beast consecutively, but to no avail. The park lacked trees with long limps so moonlight was abundant in this situation.

The enhanced beast had been fed up with this silly game. He grabbed Squall's arm and yanked the vampire's swimmer body over and smacked him hard across the ribs, and into the dirt. He wouldn't be getting up soon, his whole side had almost been crushed by the blow.

"Dude wake up!" Nida cried. Zell and Selphie stared at Nida in fear for his safety.

"Nida, run!" Selphie screamed. Nida had retreated a few steps back in caution of the monster. The werewolf's intelligence had increased along with its strength in the moonlight. It sprang at Nida and tackled him to the ground, crushing him with its body weight. Nida laid in the shape of his own body in a sand box stunned with shockwave pain.

After defeating their own two werewolves, Irvine and Seifer ran to Zell and Selphie's rescue. The two were left wide open on a platter for Mister Sharp Tooth. The monster advanced on the pair. Zell jumped in front of Selphie and tried to protect her. "Step off, bitch!" he threatened. The werewolf just flipped him upside down by the ankle and tossed him over the shoulder. When he had the loud raven haired boy situated, he did the same to Selphie. They both kicked and screamed and scratched and even went as far as to bite the tall goliath, but to no avail. Selphie hadn't realized how tall the thing was until she was looking at the ground from a mountain's point of view.

"Irvine, Help!" Selphie and Zell cried as they were carried off into the forest at an unnatural speed. The two men were too late. "Shit!" Seifer cursed. He ran at full vampire speed but it wasn't enough to catch up to the enhanced werewolf.

**Seifer**

"Hey!" Irvine yelled after him. He too had seen the monster running away with his boyfriend and one of his best friends. It had run into the forest and was long gone. "You can't go after it by yourself, you know! It's taking them to their colony most likely. It'll take more than just us two to get them back."

The Asian boy who had been slammed into the sand box's bones began to work again. He stood up and dusted off of his clothes and hair. "Damn. I forgot how strong they could be when they're under moonlight," the Japanese boy said. Seifer had noticed earlier that the kid was good with a whip, which was a very feminine weapon now that he thought about it.

Seifer glared in Irvine's direction. "Are you suggesting that we all work together?"

"Well, yeah. You obviously know Ellie, otherwise you wouldn't be upset that he just got hauled off by a werewolf. I'm Irvine by the way," he held out his hand for Seifer to shake. "And you are-"

"None of your goddamned business," Seifer retorted. Irvine's hand was left in the air.

"Well aren't you in a pleasant mood?" Squall asked from the ground while holding his side.

"I think it would be wise if you didn't say anything, puberty boy. The only reason I didn't finish kickin' your ass is because Chicken got hauled off." Seifer spat on the ground in annoyance. "We'll finish this later Squally-boy."

Seifer walked off towards the parking lot and disappeared from sight.

He walked towards the new red car he and Fujin had stole. "You okay?" she asked noticing he had returned empty handed.

"I'm aight, but you and me gotta go look for Chicken. We ran into some trouble."

"We?" the red-eyed girl asked while starting the ignition.

"It's a long story."

**Nida**

"Just ignore him," the scarred kid suggested.

"Who exactly are you people?" Nida asked.

"Well-"

"_He's_ a transfer student from Esthar Acadamy," the violet haired boy had approached the group soaking wet and interrupted Squall's introduction as 'Prince Loire'. "I'm Laharl and this is Squall." He had obviously landed in water when he was thrown.

"Well, I would give you a tour of campus, but as you can see we're in the middle of a life threatening crisis."

"Indeed," Squall agreed. "We must hurry and find Zell and your other friend. Unlike that other prick I don't mind working together. His name is Seifer by the way. We have to get to Zell before he does."

"When I stuck my arm inside of it, I left it a present," Laharl added. "I don't think they'll get very far."

**Selphie**

Selphie kicked and screamed and bit and scratched as if she were in the cat fight of her life, but to no avail. The two teens had been carried off about a dozen miles away into the forest that bordered the campus from the plains surrounding the Deiling. Neither of them could tell how far they were from school.

The wind rushed through their hair as they were practically being flown on the monster's shoulders through the cool night air. Eventually the werewolf began to slow down and fall to its knees. Selphie and Ellie rolled off and crawled off together away from the now whimpering dog. Blood began to gurgle out of the bottom of his open snout and dripped down his muscular chest.

The dog like body seemed to be shrinking and deflating into a puny two legged body. Its head got smaller and hair began to replace fur. The feet lost its claws and the face became more human-like. Then the hair began to drop out of the skull and its skin turned into a dark crusted like fabric. Finally a burnt human body lay in the dirt in front of Ellie and Selphie, charred yet melted at the same time. It was definitely dead. But how did it die?

Ellie carefully walked up to the harmless corpse and nudged it with his foot. It smelled repulsive. "Ellie, what happened to it?" Selphie asked.

Zell nudged it with his foot again and said, "I'm not exactly sure, but it looks like it turned human and then died."

"Well this is our chance to escape! Let's get out of here!"

Ellie whirled around in every possible direction. "Selphie, I don't even know where we are," he panicked. "What if more come and they find us?" Worry lines were beginning to form on his forehead.

"Calm down!" she hissed. "At the rate you're going they're bound to find us! Let's go this way." Selphie grabbed his hand and led him in any direction she felt was right. She grabbed onto him for two reasons: One, she was terrified no matter how hard she tried to cover it up. She needed some sort of human contact after what just happened. Two: It was dark. In order not to get separated through the trees and lack of light, they needed to stay connected the whole time.

They walked for what felt like almost an hour. "Can we rest for a minute?" he asked.

Selphie breathed roughly. They had been walking all night. "Fine," she answered sounding out of breath.

They both sat down on a nearby rock. "Do you think we'll ever make it home?" asked Ellie.

Selphie's hair covered her face and she hugged her knees close to her chest for warmth. "Ellie, I don't even know if we're walking in the right direction anymore," she answered hopelessly. The cold night air had just reminded her that she was still in her heart pajamas.

Zell frowned at the dirt. The two teen's backs leaned against each other. "I wish we had something to drink," he complained.

"Don't start," Selphie snapped. "You ain't the only one."

"Do you think the others survived?" Ellie asked.

"Are you kidding me? Did you see the way those boys fought? I never knew Irvine, much less Nida, could do things like that. Kinda makes me wonder what else they've been hiding from me all these years…"

"Yeah, I'd have to agree," said Ellie. He closed his eyes remembering the sight of gun slinging Irvine. "I don't think I've ever seen him look sexier," he finished.

Selphie was silent for a minute. "Speaking of which, what are you hiding from us, Zell."

Ellie tensed up. "Why did you just call me Zell?"

"Because isn't that your name? Isn't that what those two guys called you? Not Ellie, but Zell. Why don't you just tell the truth from now on and things like this won't happen?"

Zell sighed in frustration. "It's complicated," he started. "I don't want to get you involved."

"It's a little too late for that!"

"alright, then. I'll start from the beginning. On the day of my graduation I was attacked by a monster. You know…that blond guy back there."

"Seifer?" Selphie asked.

"Yeah, him. Well he's a vampire in case you haven't figured that out yet and he has been after me since this summer," Zell explained. "I ran away from home so he wouldn't hurt anyone I knew back home. I hopped from town to town so many times now I'm exhausted and ready to give up. Anyway, I met the other guy that same night Seifer met Fujin, his lapdog. If we survive this you might meet her."

"Is Squall the one with the purple hair?" Selphie asked.

"No that's Laharl. I met him today. Squall is the brunette who was fighting Seifer."

"Why were they fighting?" Selphie asked curiously.

They were fighting over him as usual, Zell thought to himself. He didn't want Selphie to have that much information, though. "It's complicated, I don't wanna go into detail when I hardly know the truth myself," he finished. There was silence between the two. Nothing but the silent blinking of forest creatures' eyes and the breathing of bigger beasts lurking in trees, watching…waiting. "I only changed my name so that I could have a fresh start. I never planned on meeting Irvine, I never planned on making friends. I never planned for anyone to get hurt or…."

Selphie had to choke her sobs back. Quistis… "Let's not talk about that anymore," she decided. "Whether you meant to or not, we're involved now, and it's all your fault," Selphie accused. Zell guiltily looked at the ground. "But I'd rather not be anywhere else right now. This is really giving us a chance to get to know each other," Selphie reassured cheerfully and Zell stared at her disbelievingly. When he saw that bright face full of hope and happiness surrounded by darkness, he couldn't help but smile as well. "It's nice to meet you, Zell," Selphie put her hand out for Zell to shake.

"It's nice to meet you Selphie," he took her hand and shook it. They got up and continued in the direction they hope home would be.

**Squall**

The four boys walked in silence on the forest trail. The path was wide enough for only three so Irvine stayed in back with his gun guarding the hind-side of the group. It made more sense for a person with a projectile weapon to flank the party.

"By the way, my name is Nida and that's Irvine," the boy named Nida had said.

"Nice to meet you," Squall replied muttering something under his breath as well. He didn't want to work with these two boys. Nida was annoying and never shut up it seemed. But, Laharl had decided that if the two humes thought that they were on the same side, they would have less enemies. Then they could just kill all of Zell's friends later.

"So exactly how do you two know Ze-I mean Ellie?" Laharl asked.

"My best friend here happens to date, Ellie," Nida answered proudly.

Squall's eyebrow twitched, but no one saw. "Is that so?" he asked venomously.

"Yep, what about you guys?" Nida asked. "How do you two know Ellie?"

"Well, it's a long story. Wouldn't want to bore you."

"Okay that' does it," Irvine growled cocking his gun behind the two newcomers. "You two have been acting funny all night. I know you're not human, by the way. No humans could have that kind of strength you two have been displaying tonight!" Nida stood next to Irvine with a stance that showed his opposition to them as well. Squall and Laharl looked at the two boys neutrally.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Squall replied flatly. Without a second's hesitation Irvine unexpectedly shot Squall in the shoulder making blood splash on Laharl. "Arrghhh!" Squall screamed in pain while holding his shoulder. Nida and Irvine watched the bullet wound begin to close and heal itself.

"I knew it!" Nida exclaimed. "Vampires!"

"Maybe that will jog your memory," Irvine replied smugly.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," Laharl snarled showing his fangs.

"No, _you_ don't know who _you're_ dealin' with. Members of F.L.A.R.E. don't play that shit," Nita retorted. "You either stay away from our friends and go back to where you came from, or die now, you devils."

F.L.A.R.E.: an underground organization spread linked throughout colleges around the world. Populated by students, trained in military combat dedicated to destroy any and all demons who wandered their territory, Squall recalled mentally. He had heard about them in school when he was a young vampire. Laharl lunged to strike either F.L.A.R.E. member, but Squall held him back. "It's not worth it," Squall told him. "Retreat!" Laharl was unwillingly pulled into the air as Squall jumped boundlessly out of reach of Irvine and Nida.

They landed on the branch of a secluded tree by a waterfall in the forest. "What the hell are you doing?" Laharl asked outraged. "We could have snapped both their necks like twigs!" he exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me? You're telling me you didn't smell that?" Squall asked bewildered.

"Smell what?"

Squall lowered his eyes to the distant ground. "One of them could have snapped our necks," he rebounded. "I felt it back by the playground, but I thought it was just one of the werewolves. One of those boys isn't completely human. One of them is a demon," Squall finished to a wide-eyed Laharl.

"Well how come I didn't smell it?" Laharl asked.

Squall sighed. "I dunno…"

"Well we need to find Zell quickly if you're _that _scared," Laharl rolled his eyes.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Squall replied calmly. "I'm just being cautious of whatever the hell that thing was. If I don't know what it is how am I supposed to fight it? Here's the plan:" Squall said before Laharl could open his mouth to answer the obviously rhetorical question. "We need to find Zell before those two do."

Laharl sniffed the air. "I don't smell lilacs," he concluded.

"Scents change with his emotions- you know that…"

"Oh right I forgot…well can we get out of this tree? My leg is starting to cramp from sitting in this crouching position," Laharl complained.

They jumped off the tree limp and landed like two cats. As soon as they hit the ground their noses went into the air like search dogs. Laharl caught something immediately. "Hey! You smell that?"

Squall took a few more additional wiffs in the air and scrunched his face. "Ugh smells horrible-like something died!"

"I think something did die. I think I know what it was too!" Laharl bounded eagerly into the direction where the smell was coming from. Only a few yards away they came across a dead corpse of what looked like a burned man. "Looks like my toxic nail polish worked," Laharl said marveling at his black fingertips. "And you actually thought I was stupid enough to leave home without a weapon," he tsked at Squall.

"Whatever," was the gloomy vampire's reply. "So this means Zell isn't far from here. They probably ran as soon as they figured out what happened to this monster…" Squall continued to muse.

**Zell**

The two teens had continued their pilgrimage through what was looking more and more like the woods instead of a forest, after they rested. They had no water and no food. In spite of all of this they hadn't encountered anymore werewolves…yet.

"I spy with my little eye something brown," Selphie said when it was her turn.

"Lemme guess," Zell said flatly. "Another tree?"

"Hey how'd you know?" She asked in shock.

Before Zell could give his annoyed reply, the ground slipped from beneath him and his scream became distant. He fell into the ground further and further from a wide-eyed Selphie. She could hear his screaming voice fall further and further into the hole that was covered by leaves.

"Zell!" Selphie cried.

**!SPLASH!**

The hitting of water had bounced off the walls of the hole Zell had fallen through. Zell swam to the surface gasping for air. He did not expect to hit water when he landed. He coughed up water and swam towards the edge of the pool he had fallen in. When he stood up on the granite floor he saw the moon was even further away from him than before. It was like he was trapped at the bottom of a volcano.

"Zell!" Selphie's voice had cried out again in desperation.

"I'm okay Selph!" he replied. He could see the silhouette of her head at the edge of the circle from all the way down here.

"Zell hold on, kay! I'll try to get help she assured frantically.

"Do you know your way back? I don't think we were going the right way this whole time."

"I know. Just hang tight I'll be back as soon as I can." Selphie hopped up off of her knees and was about to sprint away. Before she left the ditch that Zell had fallen in she ripped off the sleeve of her pajamas and wrapped the cloth with little red hearts on it around a tree branch. Zell could hear her feet crushing branches and leaves as she ran for help.

It was easier to see down here than it was up top. The moon had more room to make light and the luminescence of the rocks created a light source for Zell to see. The only difference was that it was colder down here than up at the forest. He was shivering and could see his breath. Who would put leaves on the ground covering up a ditch anyway? Zell thought to himself.

He took a moment to sit down on a rock and shiver. All he could hear was his teeth rattling against each other. He clenched his body to himself like he was his own dear lover. Perhaps he would get warmer if he moved around a bit? The drenched raven haired boy stood up and walked the circumference of the lake he had fallen in. He was in some sort of cavern; a big room with nothing but a lake in the middle.

After walking around a bit he saw something in the wall. It looked like several cracks in the wall and he could see that it was crumbling as well. Since he was bored and didn't have anything to do down here, he started picking at the wall as if it were a scab. Eventually he created a big hole in the wall. "Maybe this is the way out!" he cried.

**Irvine**

The auburn haired demon slayer bombarded leaves and shrubbery in the forest. He was frustrated and consumed with his own thoughts. His Japanese companion stayed silent behind him slicing leaves with his whip.

"Why couldn't I have been more understanding!? FUCK!" Irvine asked himself out of the blue.

It seemed to Nida that Irvine was kicking himself in the butt over the situation. "Dude, chill. We're gonna find em. Besides, you haven't lost him yet."

Irvine turned around to see Nida's reassuring face. He turned back away and slowed his pace into a hopeless posture. "I just can't help thinking: the last thing I said to him-I called him a slut."

Nida's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Irvine?" he had never heard Irvine, his best friend talk like that to anyone. Even people who he hated.

"I was upset with him because he wouldn't let me fuck him, okay!?" he asked in anger. As if it would have been a good enough excuse saying something like that to Ellie.

"I know how you feel, Irvine," Nida replied in an understanding tone. "I keep thinking about the last thing I said to Quistis…"

"That was different."

"Why?"

"Because, Quistis knew you loved her."

After that the two boys walked in silence. There really was no refutable reply for the checkmate that Irvine had put him in. And to be honest it made Nida feel a little bit more accepting of Quistis's death. A little, that is. Not a whole lot.

"You shouldn't feel guilty, Irvine. He wouldn't have felt pressured to do that sort of thing if I hadn't said anything at lunch yesterday.

Small footsteps could be heard approaching them in the distance. Without words they faced the direction the thuds were coming from. Irvine aimed his gun and Nida flexed his whip. They felt sorry for whatever was coming their way. They were going to blast it into oblivion until, they heard: "Irvine! Nida!"

Selphie had emerged out of the darkness and ran frantically towards the two boys. She jumped into Nida's welcoming arms happy to see him once again. "I'm glad you're alright," he whispered into her hair. "I couldn't stand to lose you too."

Irvine cleared his throat. "Where's Ellie, Selphie."

"That's what I was looking for you for. He fell down into a hole and there's no way to get him out because he fell so far. He wasn't hurt though he landed in water."

Irvine and Nida turned their heads to one another in shock. Irvine looked back to Selphie and was almost scared of the answer he might get to his question. "Selphie, the hole's opening didn't happen to be facing right into the moon's line of sight did it?"

Selphie paused for a moment. "Actually, yes now that I think about it. When Zell fell into the water I saw him surrounded by the watery reflection of the moon. Why is that a bad thing?"

"Shit!" Nida exclaimed. "You guys walked right onto the werewolves' front lawn. Let's go!"

**TBC**

**A/N: Please review! It keeps me going faster!**


	13. Clash of the Clans Pt 3

A/N: YAY

**A/N: No more high school! YAY me! Now my first day of college starts like… in six hours and I'm up writing this…This chapter was fun to write so there are a few humor moments in is. Lot's of action and fighting as usual and progress with the story…as usual…**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Warning(s): Violence, explosives, swearing, humor**

**Chapter 13: Clash of the Clans Pt 3**

**Laharl **

Laharl was hoping he could speed this hunt up. That's all this game really was to him: a hunt. He wanted to get back to Esthar and take a bubble bath. His muscles ached and he was sore from head to toe from all the fighting that had been going on, but then when was his body not hurting? He was a warrior, whether he liked it or not. His muscles ached 24/7, just like a dancer's body ached 24/7. The same went for Squall and any body else who lived within the walls of the Loire Kingdom.

They had made their way to a hole in the ground and dropped down gracefully on their feet. They could always leap right back out if they needed to. They could smell the stench of werewolves and their evil culture. Scents of blood and lust oozing through the stone and glowing walls of the tunnel they had gained access to.

They had come across the occasional werewolf patrolling the halls and made quick work of them, not bothering to hide the corpses. They were already in enough trouble, why use stealth past this point?

Laharl had noticed how lax security was and how empty the "streets" of the cave was. It was like anyone who was anyone was either at home on a night like tonight or out hunting. Regardless, Squall's little boy crush had come down here and they needed to find him before the werewolves did.

Every time Laharl glanced over to Squall, he saw him sniffing the air. "I know he has been here," he observed.

Laharl narrowed his eyes. "Lemme guess: Lavender?"

"No lilacs, stupid." Squall shook his head in a 'little kids will never understand' fashion.

Laharl loved ruining moments, he mused while he smirked contently to himself. "Hey look at that!" He pointed at a trail of water on the ground. "That had to be someone who fell in the water we saw just now, right? I'll bet its goldilocks' trail."

Squall stood over the drops of water and sniffed the aroma coming from them. "We have to follow this trail," Squall declared.

Laharl loved how Squall was calling all the shots. One day that would change, he vowed.

**Fujin**

She followed silently behind her tall blond friend in the dark woods. Not as scared as she was before, she clutched the side of her jacket where she kept her concealed weapon. Ever since the night of the car accident the two had decided it wouldn't be so wise for either one of them to travel unarmed. Seifer would be okay either way, but if Fujin at least had a stun gun, her mental state would be put more at ease.

"So where are we going?" She asked while trying not to trip over forest wood.

"I'm following my nose right now. I think we're close though. The werewolf took Chicken and the other brat, so if they _did _make it to the werewolf lair, then they're only down there to be mated," Seifer explained.

Fujin gulped. Even she didn't think Chicken deserved to get fucked by a dog. "What happens after that?"

"They'll be let go back into their own society. Then nine months later: BAM!" he emphasized by pounding his fist into the palm of his hand. "There go the internal organs along with the stomach. That devil baby will rip right through their bodies. The girl will stand more of a chance than Zell, her body was made for mating, but it's different when a guy has been chosen, especially by a werewolf. The idiot would have been better off picking me and this never would have happened," Seifer sighed with regret.

Fujin looked at him curiously. He just sounded like he had hopes of actually being chosen, instead of Seifer having to force his prey. Seifer had read the look on her face and shook the compassionateness off of him as if it were annoying fairy dust.

"So sex with a vampire is safer than sex with a werewolf?" Fujin asked trying to relieve the awkwardness.

"Haha. There's no such thing as safe sex with a demon, kid. The odds of survival, however are astronomical. Werewolves' penises are abnormally large and can sometimes rip through plywood. That's not exactly normal especially from a hume point of view." Fujin looked at Seifer inquisitively. "Hey I'm a vampire…I know a thing or two about my enemies' mating habits. You can trust and believe they're researching some of the same things about _us_." When Seifer said "us" of course he meant vampires. Fujin would never understand fully, though.

"So then basically, a hume body can't withstand the pounding of a werewolf penis as much as they can take a vampire cock?" She asked in crude vernacular intentionally to make Seifer squirm uncomfortably, which he did.

"Man this new full sentence thing is really starting to scare me coming from you. To answer your question: yes."

"Why is that?"

"Because, vampires are the closest demons to the human anatomy-I thought you would've figured that one out by yourself. You were such a smart kid up until now," he teased.

Fujin walked in silence wrapped in her own thoughts of the situation. "So what if you can't get to Chicken in time, would you rather Squall mated with him?" she asked daringly. She could see Seifer's expression darken. Before he could answer he came to an abrupt stop alarming the silver haired girl. "What's wrong?"

"Do you hear that? He asked? Water splashing around somewhere. I can smell werewolf blood too," he said coldly.

He ran ahead towards the sound of water hitting rocks. The pair made their way to a clearing surrounded by trees that had moonlight bouncing off of them and flowing into a mouth in the Earth. The moonlight made a perfect guiding light for whatever was down there beyond the splashing pool of murky water.

Fujin stepped to the edge of the opening and stared down at the reflection of the moon in the water. "Pretty," she commented.

"Pretty fuckin' weird you mean." Seifer had so ruined the moment of tranquility, earning a sidelong glare from Fujin. "I'm going down there. Stay here and make sure no one comes down here if you can help it. If you run into anything other than human:RUN. Got it?"

"Hn…" she grumbled sitting on a rock with her arms folded. Why did she always have to stay on watch, she wondered annoyingly.

She watched her tall vampire friend fall into the hole head first with his white trench coat flowing elegantly behind him. Neither a thud nor splash was heard when he landed. Instead there was a soft 'pat' on the dry ground of the cave. It must have been so cool to have vampire powers, she though enviously.

Fujin's head whipped around. The sound of foot steps were approaching. She chose the path of stealth. If someone was coming she could see who they were and they wouldn't see her attempt to stop them.

**Zell**

He walked cautiously through the strangely lit labyrinth. He decided not to go too far. Selphie could be back at any moment with help. What's the harm in exploring a secret passageway every once in a while? The walls were absolutely beautiful. They shimmered with a white glow. Almost as if moonlight were oozing out of the cracks. This made it easier to see in the stone corridors.

He walked slowly shivering in the cold passage with moonlit walls. He dripped water with every step he took. His shoes made a slight squishy sound and the gel in his hair had evacuated from his roots. His black hair had become nothing more than an emotionally deflated patch of whale bristles. He could see the breath in front of him and his curious blue eyes scanned his surroundings in fascination.

Whispered voices mixed in with the sound of his dripping water, ragged breathing, and squishy footsteps. He slowed his pace and breathed through his nose to make sure his own mind wasn't messing with him. Sure enough the sounds, like his own, had stopped. He decided he had gone far enough and decided to turn around.

When he did turn around he was met with a solid glowing concrete wall. "What?" he asked the air. Someone was messing with him. He turned back around into the direction that he was originally headed. It, of course, was completely open and maybe even inviting some how. No way to go but forward, he decided.

There were loops and turns and forks and arches. He didn't know where the hell he was going and was beginning to fidget nervously. He wanted nothing more than to go back and sit in the water cavern on a rock and freeze his ass of now. Soon the regret settled in of wanting to explore unknown territory. Why couldn't he have just sat still and froze to death? He came across an archway that led to a room with what looked like benches planted in the dusty floor.

There were stairs in the corner of this room that glowed white just like the many walls of this maze. They led up. Up is good right now, Zell thought to himself. He ran up the stairs in hopes that they would climb high enough to reach the grass at the top. Or even back to the water room he had first landed in. He was desperate at this point. He almost tripped and fell on a step as he got closer to the top out of overexcitement.

Damn stairs, he thought venomously. At the top of the stairs a glowing white door became more visible and a murmured thumping of music became more audible. He placed his palm on the white handle of the door and burst through hoping for more familiar scenery. What he happened upon wasn't exactly what he had in mind in the sense that it wasn't familiar. But it wasn't disheartening or threatening either. He stood dripping wet in a room full of men it seemed. He double checked over the chiseled jaws and muscular pecks. Nope. Not a female in sight.

**Nida **

Nida hadn't even gotten started yet. Like the demons he had made as enemies, he had an unquenchable taste for blood. He had become almost exactly like them and wanted to rip every last one of them apart out of vengeance, Ellie far from his mind right now. He just wanted to burn the whole city of werewolves now. Quistis hadn't left his mind all night.

He followed Selphie hopefully, yet impatiently, through the forest towards the werewolf den. He and Irvine both knew by Selphie's description of the moon at the mouth of the entrance to the cave that it was their lair. "How much further?" he asked again.

"We're here," the short brunette announced as if this were some sort of magic train ride. She ran to the edge of the dark circular opening. "Ellie?" she called down. No answer. "Oh no! I think they got him!"

"Nah, he probably went exploring. Curiosity is gonna kill him one day," Irvine said. He knew what Ellie was like and knew that he couldn't stay still for long. He'd wanna know what else was down there and probably went looking for a way out. It was a cute feature of his, but it would get him in trouble one day.

Irvine and Nida had abandoned the following position and stepped in front of Selphie. They could take control from here. They had been trained for just this sort of thing.

The three teens stood on a spot around the edge of the circle. Irvine, whose senses were on overdrive that whole night, turned his head and narrowed his eyes as if he were searching for something.

"What?" Nida asked impatiently.

"I feel like we're being watched," Irvine said.

"Well they can look all they want, it ain't doin' shit to stop me from going down here is it?"

Irvine and Selphie looked at one another to confirm that they had both noticed the change in Nida's behavior that evening. Irvine spoke fearlessly to his friend. "Hey, buddy. Maybe you should sit this one out. I can find Ellie fine myself."

"This ain't about your little boyfriend. This is about me making sure every last one of them mutherfuckers die a slow painful death."

"Well if it were me, I'd wait until I wasn't so angry before I went down there. You need time to think about things before you swing blindly or your emotions will hurt you more than any demon will." Selphie looked like she agreed fully with Irvine, but wouldn't dare say anything. She watched the two boys quarrel silently.

"Don't worry about me, Irvine" Nida said coldly. "I'm not just along for the ride anymore as only your friend. It's personal this time and now I have a reason to be in this story. So stop thinking about romance and just stay outta the way."

Irvine accepted defeat and watched his friend hook his belt into the rock dirt of the wall of the cave. He tugged on it three times to make sure it was stable inside the wall and jumped down, slowly descending into the pit with resistance from the latch. "You comin'?" Nida called to Irvine as he was descending.

**Selphie**

Irvine didn't answer. He just took off his brown duster and handed it to Selphie. He was only in his purple vest now and black cowboy hat, with his biceps and chest muscles exposed to the cool air. Selphie looked at him distantly. "You know you aren't coming, right?"

"What!" she shrieked. "Why not!?"

"I can't keep track of you and Zell at the same time. You did great by leading us here and that's all you can really do for now."

"I can take care of my-"

"Why does everyone seem to not be getting along with me tonight?" Irvine asked himself. "Listen, I want you to stay here and make sure no one comes down. It'll be violent down there. _Very _violent."

Selphie sighed showing her begrudging but all the same listened to Irvine-or so he thought. She had her fingers crossed behind her back. "Fine," she said. Mock-defeated.

"Thanks, babe. When this is all over, I'm gonna take you some place real special," Irvine flirted. He kissed her on the cheek and descended down slowly with the whip in his grasp.

Selphie held her red cheek like a flustered little school girl. Oh wait…that's what she is. She lowered her hand and sighed. She walked over to rock and sat down fidgeting with her nails. Feeling the presence of someone rushing at her before it was too late, Selphie jumped up and grabbed the arm that tried to attack her and threw the body to the grass making a white haired girl drop her stun-gun that rolled to the side.

She jumped up and ran for her gun. Selphie had already started running towards it though. They tied at the finish line and shoulder tackled each other sending themselves sprawling back and hitting the ground (This being the second time for the girl with the eye patch). "What the hell's your problem?" Selphie shrieked on the floor holding her shoulder.

"You're an enemy!" the other girl responded.

"I'm helping my friend! Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Seifer's partner. I can't let you go down there."

"If you don't stop trying to kill me I'm going to push you in there, you bitch!" It seemed as though this girl was immune to prissy insults, but Selphie had something else on her mind. 'Wait a minute! Were you watching me with those two boys?" She asked.

"That's not important!"

"Hey, did Seifer happen to tell you to stay up here and make sure no one went down?"

She blinked with her beautiful crimson red eye. "How did you know?"

"It seems like us girls are always getting left behind," Selphie said mock-helplessly. The white haired girl laughed. "What's your name anyway?"

"Fujin," She answered.

"My name's Selphie. What do you say we head on down there and see what we're missing?"

"But they told us to stay up here," Fujin repeated like a robot.

"What's your point? I can tell you wanna go down there just as bad as I do. There's nothing wrong with being nosy. I do it all the time," she said proudly and lifting her chin up. "Unless you're scared or something."

"NO!"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

The two girls stood up at the same time and walked over to the watery pit. Fujin looked at the bottom of the pit. "How are we going to climb down there?" she asked now intrigued by the idea.

"We're not going to climb. We're gonna dive!" Selphie exclaimed manically.

"Are you a little bit crazy?" Fujin asked worriedly.

"No, I just like to jump from really high places!" she screamed and grabbed Fujin's wrist.

"Hey-"

"Geronimoooooo!!" Selphie shouted as she jumped, yanking Fujin in the pit with her.

Fujin was screaming at the top of her lungs as the wind whipped through her and Selphie's hair, "You really are insane!!"

**Zell**

The result was awkward for Zell. There were about 20 men in the room that he burst in. It seemed he had interrupted a party because the band of three (who was playing Irish music) had stopped playing. No one must not have been expecting any more guests. About sixty pairs of eyeballs lay on his dripping shivering form. "Oo ere ye'?" one of the bare-chested men addressed him. He had dark black hair down to his shoulders and cerulean blue eyes.

"I'm…lost," Zell answered dumbly.

There was a low murmur of whispers. They obviously knew Zell wasn't a part of their little underground "village" party. What'll they do? Zell wondered. Maim him? Kill him? Hopefully just tell him to turn around and go home, even though he didn't know where home was. He wasn't prepared for reality though. "Why not you come stay 'ere with oos the nigh?" the same dark haired man asked with his eager blue eyes.

Zell blushed. "Well I should really get back to my friends," Zell replied unsurely. Did he really have friends to go back to? He was underground after all. If he stayed here for ever he'd be safe from anything at the top.

"Don' worry, lad. We'll get ye back nice and safe tomorrow. It's much too dang'rous te' go back oot into the forest this late ah nigh. Dang'rous beasts, there ere," the bare-chested man slung his arm around Zell and led him to a table in what looked like a dimly lit pub. The teen was sat down in a chair with five other men. Most of them were burly and all were drinking some form of alcohol.

_"This the one Chandranath returned with?" _ A tall muscular man sitting down with his back to the bar whispered. Zell had heard and got to thinking. Who could Candranath be? "_Bit scrawny aye?" _

Zell scowled at the Arnold Schwarzenegger look-a-like. "I really hope that you don't think I can't hear you," Zell warned.

The buff man was about to reply, but the dark haired man with blue eyes interrupted him. "Sorry boot tha'. Y'll aff te' excuse our rrudness. 'Tsnot every day we get a visitor from the surface. 'M Savan," he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zell," he replied while noting that every one in the room was at least 2 inches taller than him.

Savan continued to introduce Zell to the rest of the table. The overly muscular man's name was Ardolf. "Wan' a drink?" Savan asked.

"Oh, no thank you," Zell answered unambiguously. "I'm not old enough."

All of the men laughed. "Don be silleh, boy!

A man called Chakor, who sat directly across from Zell spoke. He was the youngest looking man in the room and looked like he could have been no more than Irvine's age. He had spoken to Zell for the first time. "Oo 'ave an interestin' face, Zell," was the first thing he had said to him.

Zell just smiled awkwardly and replied, "Uh, thanks?" Then he noticed all the man staring at him at the table in awe, as if they thought the same thing but hadn't raised the topic until someone was brave enough to say so.

"Where'd ya get tha beautiful pattern from on yer pre'y little left cheek?" he asked.

Zell unconsciously rubbed his face in horror. His make up had worn off from the water and his tattoo was visible for the entire world to see. "Dun cover up en our 'count," Savan assured. "We like it!"

Zell lowered his hand and blushed. "I got this when I was only 16," he began. "It reminds me that no matter how rough times get, there's always a path to take to make things better. Each black line on my face is a path to take and a solution." He didn't know why he was explaining this to complete strangers. Maybe because he didn't know them. Therefore there was no risk that could be taken with these "people".

The screeching of a microphone blared through the bar. A man had got on stage with the band and looked like he was a bout to give a speech.

"Are ye' blokes havin' a good time, yeah?"

The crowd cheered in excitement. Some twirled their ale soaked shirts in the air. Zell smiled in amusement at everyone's energy.

The man continued. "In case ye haven noticed, our carrier's arrived. An' my is 'e a looker!" The crowd cheered again in excitement.

"Who's this carrier," Zell asked Savan.

He just looked over with a grin and said, "U'll see."

"An' in honor of the bachelor, 'E gets first dibs on 'em." The announcer seemed to be grinning as though he wished he had first dibs on the carrier, Zell thought to himself. The crowd even showed their disappointment audibly with complaining sighs and boos.

The announcer got them settled down and told the bachelor to stand. Zell looked around to see who the bachelor was. But no one got up where he was looking. He heard the scooting of a wooden chair against a wooden floor behind him and when he turned, the man called Chakor was standing up accepting his applause.

"Ready te become a man 'tnight?" the announcer asked, making Chakor blush and Zell and the rest of the room laugh. "Go on! Take yer carrier 'an show os 'ow o it's dun!" he encouraged.

The crowd began chanting "Plant it! Plant it! Plant it! Plant it!" Over and over again. It was like the chanting was moving Chakor's body around his table and into Zell's direction. Zell watched him approach with eager eyes.

Chakor placed his fingers on Zell's shoulders when he got to his chair. He caressed his collar bone gently at first. Then suddenly the look in Chakor's eyes changed. The crowd still chanted "Plant it! Plant it!" and began banging on tables like wild animals with the beat of their chant. As physical as the crowd got, Chakor's grip became tighter making Zell wince.

"Ouch, hey you're hurting me!" Zell told him. He got up from his chair and tried to get away from the once calm scenery that was now growing slightly insane by the minute. Chakor kept his feet planted into the ground so Zell couldn't move. "Get off!" Zell screamed over the banging and chanting and jeering and shouting. With one swift motion Chakor flung him to the hard ground by his shoulder. "Savan!" Zell cried. "Help me!" When Zell looked to the face of the man who had greeted him so gently, he saw him grinning, and chanting and banging in excitement along with everybody else in the crowd. No one was going to help him.

Zell tried to crawl away. He wanted to get away from this place and these men, but everywhere he looked there was some one taller than him with a muscular chest and big arms blocking his path. How could he have been so stupid? He walked right into an evil trap. Zell tried his last resort at pushing people out of his way. But he knew before even trying that there'd be no success. He could barely pin Irvine who had sometimes stole the remote, and he was human. How could he barge through werewolves?

Chakor gripped him by the hair pulling the skin on his face back. He could feel sharp claws digging into his hairline And in the back of his head as Chakor's strength made Zell arch his back backwards. With utmost strength he threw Zell's upper body forward on a wood table roughly, knocking over glasses of liquor and interrupting abandoned card games. Still holding him by the hair, Chakor wasn't so much taller than Zell as everyone else was, but it was his build, so it felt like he had someone towering over his back.

Zell only had vision of a stone wall and a few witnesses. People who would watch horrible events unfold, chanting and banging on pots and pans and tables. It was all a sideways view of course since Chakor had him bent over. In his vision he could see a bottle of half empty brown liquor. With his free hand he grabbed it and slammed it blindly into the side of Chakor's face.

Chakor had seen it coming from a mile away and grabbed his wrist and twisted it painfully so that the bottle shattered to the floor. Zell was raised up and spun around to meet angry fierce werewolf eyes and a scrunched up nose. Chakor slapped him hard across his face making him hit the table on his back this time, with a ceiling chandelier spinning wildly above him.

"'Oo dare tri to 'urt me, slut?" he asked venomously. "Next time I'll bite yer whole erm off. Now relax und take my dick like a good little boy, ya?" Zell was trying to focus his vision. That slap had him seeing three Chakors and millions of others in the background. He could feel the presence of people surrounding him on that table. So many people that there was hardly any light hitting him from the chandelier bulbs. "Hold his wrists," he commanded two men. Zell felt his arms pinned to the hard surface of the table parallel to his head.

Without warning, Zell's shirt was ripped with a deafening tearing sound, and Chakor's claws had torn the skin of Zell's flat stomach. Red race tracks lined his belly and brought a tear of pain from the corner of the raven haired boy's eye, traveling down the side of his cheek and flowing up to his hair. Crying while lying on your back felt more uncomfortable than normal crying.

"Well lookit' tha! 'E's cryin'!" One man shouted making the crowd laugh. "Fuckin' hume! And ther damn emotions! The lot of them were made to take dick wern' they?" Another shouted causing even more laughter. Zell felt humiliated and embarrassed.

"Fuck 'em an get it o'er with so we can have oor turn," Savan complained from the side.

"Relax. Yer not the one gettin' marred tmarreh'," Chakor spat while taking his belt off and working his hips between Zell's legs. He grabbed Zell's legs and hoisted them up for easier access. When he made contact with Zell's bottom, he grinded his clothed erection roughly making Zell squirm

"Get offa me, you creep you're disgusting!" Zell screamed in repulse.

**!BANG!!**

A hole appeared in Chakor's head and blood splattered all over Zell and Chakor's surrounding friends. Zell stared wide eyed at the surprised look on Chakor's face. The room immediately became silent. No more chanting. All that could be heard was the thud of Chakor's body slumping on Zell then rolling off carelessly to hit the wooden floor dead, lifeless, and lame.

Everyone turned their attention to a man in a purple vest standing on the bar, brown cowboy booted feet apart and holding a rifle in both hands with a smug look on his face.

**Irvine**

Irvine got a whole room of werewolves all to himself, he thought proudly. After he killed the fuckwad that was all over Zell, he had gotten everyone's attention. Including Ellie. He hadn't failed to notice the black artistry on his face. Where had that come from? He thought.

Never mind that for now. He'd ask him about it later, but right now, he had an angel to save. The gunslinger hopped down from the bar counter and kicked a stool at an approaching demon's legs causing him to trip in an even faster speed than he was running. He literally flew headfirst into a wall and cracked his skull open.

"Change!" someone in the crowd had shouted. Three men turned to two legged bear sized wolf demons and charged at Irvine with drool dripping from their mouths. Irvine quickly switched the setting of his gun from "normal" to "shotgun". Immediately after the wolves could strike, one shot sent all three of them flying directly backwards and the beasts never got back up.

Irvine glanced over in Ellie's direction and saw blue sea eyes staring at him the whole time. It made Irvine excited in his pants a little to know that he was being watched. If he showed off, maybe Ellie would forget about their little argument earlier tonight and be distracted by Irvine' skill and power. Then when they went home together he could get some tail. Irvine almost shook in excitement like a child, but he was a man. He contained himself in his gunner mode.

After that no punches were held back Irvine had a whole wave of people charge at him. That's just what he was waiting for: groups of large numbers. He leaped over the charging attack force and swung on a medium sized chandelier chain with one hand. He had switched his gun setting to "flame" in mid air and shot what looked like a red shooting star from the end of his barrel. It slowly flew like a flaming butterfly, and at the end of its rainbow was a deadly explosion that ignited the whole bar sending about 10 demons flying back and flaming wood shooting everywhere like a wooden boat had just been blown. Fire and alcohol made a good mix. He noticed a band had been set on fire as well.

Nida took this time to show up since there was no turning back, he started by slicing a few werewolves in half with his razor sharp whip. Tops of bodies stayed in the air momentarily before hitting the ground never to connect with their lower halves that fell to their knees and then hit the floor in a pool of blood. Shocked looks on their faces as the lay on their "backs". Irvine and Ellie both saw what Nida was doing. He was giving these monsters the same death they had given Quistis.

Irvine dropped swung from the chandelier to his right where no one was occupating the floor. Everyone pretty much had their attention on Ellie, he thought. What a disgusting bachelor party. Irvine stopped thinking and turned his setting back to "shotgun". Bullets scattered everywhere and made three times as much blood hit the walls and floor. These dogs weren't very smart, Irvine mustered. They would've known by now to not attack in large clusters.

Nida kicked a man in his bare chest sending him stumbling back into another group of three of his friends. They all staggered, but Nida kept them standing by lassoing them with his whip. They had been caught and wouldn't be let go. Nida clicked the switch on his handle and the men were shouting in agony, bleeding underneath their feet. Razors grinded into their skins mercilessly and Nida tugged and tugged as hard as he could with his feet planted into the wooden floor. When there were several gallons of blood on the ground he decided to end this. With one final tug, 4 bodies became 8 with the addition of deafening snapping sounds. That would be their spines.

Irvine rarely looked down. He always looked up because his target was the head. If he had looked down, he would've noticed the half corpses he tripped over, making him fall on the floor. Damn Nida, making such a mess you couldn't even walk! He fell on his front and could see underneath the tables now. Ellie was curled in a ball underneath a wooden table, shirtless and hiding from danger and pale as snow.

Irvine took this as a good chance to rescue him. The werewolves were fewer in number and Nida's stubborn fury could take them all out if he really wanted to, Irvine thought. He crawled under the table quickly in Ellie's direction. "You ready to get out of here?"

He didn't answer. Irvine noticed he was shaking. "Ellie, are you okay? They didn't…do…anything to you did they?" Irvine didn't want to say what he was thinking out loud. The thought disgusted him too much.

Ellie had difficulty speaking at first. "I c-can't go back with you, Irvine. I'm scared."

"You don't ever have to be scared again. I'll protect you from them," Irvine said reassuringly. Looking directly into Ellie's eyes and hoping he would believe him. He had noticed that orange flames danced in his blue eyes. Ellie was watching the fire that Irvine created and realized that Ellie didn't fear the monsters as much as he feared Irvine tonight. And what Ellie said next had affirmed that exact conclusion.

"I'm not as scared of them as I'm scared of you, Irvine," he said shakily scooting back on his behind away from Irvine. "You turned into an evil monster tonight just like they did. You kill people for a living and said horrible things to me tonight. You lied to me!" he accused. "How can I ever trust you again?"

Irvine glared at Ellie's temple, his Aztec design running down the side of his face. "Yeah, well it looks like the both of us have some explaining to do, don't we?"

Ellie grew quiet and looked down at his shoes.

**!KABOOM! !WOOSH!**

A loud explosion sounded, followed by a fierce wave of hot wind that came from the bar devoured the walls. The wall where the alcohol had been sitting on had been so enflamed by the fires from Irvine's bullet that the energy combusted, taking out the whole other side of the bar. Embers as big as rock boulders charged in every direction and one was heading straight for Ellie and Irvine. Irvine's instincts kicked in. The only image in his mind was of Ellie and the command was to "protect". He jumped on Ellie and covered him with his larger body, (ignoring the flinch he got in response from Ellie's body when he touched him). With swift fingers like no other, he switched to "AP". It took under two seconds for the powerful shot to charge up and fire.

When he could feel the hair on his fingers start to singe his gun blasted hot blue light sending ripples of waves through the meteorite like flame. It was so powerful, the couple could feel a gust of wind before it went off. The bullet sizzled through the scorching beast and caused it to disperse to the sides and dissipated into the air.

The room was blazing hot, but Ellie and Irvine were safe. "We're safe!" Irvine exclaimed in half joy and half fear for Nida. He had just remembered his bitter friend. "C'mon."

Ellie reluctantly took Irvine's hand and stood up covering his mouth. "I think I liked it better where I was," he said while trying not to gag.

"Nida?" Irvine called. He couldn't be seen. All that was seen were the black corpses of demons. Could they even be called corpses any more? They'd be just ash pretty soon. And if Nida was among the dead, how could anyone differentiate his body from the rest. The charred werewolves were obvious though. Irvine began to sweat remembering that Nida was close to the bar last time he had checked.

Irvine preceded onwards pulling Ellie along with him never letting go of his hand, a little to the shorter boy's displeasure. Ellie noticed the way he had come in earlier was destroyed by the archway caving in. The place wasn't as stable as it seemed. Then he saw that the bar had blown up and created a new opening into another room. "Maybe Nida went that way," Ellie suggested.

Irvine's sighed helplessly. "I'd hate to leave like this, but if Nida is okay, then I'll just have to assume he's a tough kid and can handle himself. He knows how to get outta here. If we don't see him along the way, then there's nothing I can do," he declared.

Ellie looked like he wanted to say something. As if he wanted to call Irvine out on being cruel. Irvine noticed, but shrugged it off. The pair stepped over the scorching hot floor that had been burned by the flames. Irvine walked on with Ellie's hand in his, but stopped after thinking for a while. "I need to tell you a few things, Ellie."

Ellie knew this would be coming. He just thought it might have come a little later when things went back to normal. _IF_ they went back to normal. Then he realized, things will never be normal with him now would they? "Ellie, I'm in-"

**!CRACK! **

**Squall**

Irvine collapsed on a shocked Zell, who had tried to hold his (ex-)boyfriend's dead weight up. Squall put down the rock he had used to knock the boy unconscious. An amused Laharl stood next to him. "Nice one," he commented to his quiet friend.

If he had killed Irvine, Zell wouldn't like him very much. Not that he was fond of him now, but why make their relationship any more complicated?

"Are you ready to get out of here now?" Squall asked.

Zell wore a defeated look on his face along with several splashes of blood on his bare chest.. He looked tired. Of running possibly? It looked like he was about to give one of his usual smart remarks:"_I'm not goin' anywhere with you, pencil dick." _Or something like that. But he just kept quiet and kept his defeated composure. "Whatever," was his simple response.

"Haha. He sounded like you, Squall," Laharl teased.

The tattooed boy had fallen to his knees in defeat, his face mere inches from the floor. He was surrendering. "You don't have to bow to him. You're going to marry him so what's the point?"

Zell's neck snapped up to look at his two captives. "No! I could never do that!"

"Why not? It's not like you're saving yourself for this loser," Laharl nudged Irvine's cowboy booted foot with his shoe and laughed at his own amusement.

"That's enough," Squall snapped noticing Zell's discomfort. Laharl immediately switched the joke button off. Squall turned his attention back to Zell. It hurt to see him like this, but discarded his feelings like he always had. He was a vampire, a demon, monster if you would. And his prey was crouched on the ground mere inches away from him. It had been a while since he was this close to Zell, and this smell of lilacs and the memory of the night in the hotel room caused a stirring in his groin. Laharl could smell his arousal, but said nothing to annoy his friend any further. After all, his best friend did happen to be the prince.

"Stand up, Zell. We're leaving. Say goodbye to him," Squall commanded.

Zell looked longingly at his unconscious friend, lover, enemy. The little dancer seemed to have a million thoughts running through his mind and didn't bother saying goodbye. He just sat there staring at his friend who laid on his back, ignorant of the flames he had created. Squall had smelled the lilacs change into a scent of malice, before he saw the flash in Zell's eyes.

The tattooed dancer had grabbed Irvine's gun so fast and aimed it at the pair, they didn't even have time to draw weapons. "The thing about us humans," Zell explained fearlessly, "Is that we don't abandon our lovers like vampires!" He fired the gun, which still happened to be on "AP" mode, at them. They could easily anticipate the slow yet powerfully deadly bullet and side flipped out of the way in either direction. Zell felt that familiar gust of wind hit him in the face and making his hair fly back. The beautiful blue laser with rippling air shot through the air and hit the wall that Squall and Laharl were standing in front of.

**!KABANG!**

A cloud of dust filled the entire room the three were in. Laharl covered his eyes so dust wouldn't get in. Squall lay on his side doing the same but his ears picked up the sound of squishy wet footsteps skip through to the other side.

When the dust eventually cleared they noticed a new entrance was in the wall and that Irvine guy and Zell were gone.

"Come on," Squall coughed. Let's go after him.

Laharl growled in frustration and followed his commander.

The two were covered in brown dust from the building. It trailed off of them in brown clouds of smoke. This was the price to pay for being in a cavern made of rock and underground. All they had to do was follow wet foot prints into the unknown deadly territory of the cavern. It was bigger than they had anticipated, almost as if it were an actual underground city.

"He's moving pretty fast for a hume carrying dead weight," Laharl breathed angrily. Their footsteps clicked on the ground as they came to an intersection. Zell's footprints led straight. He hadn't turned. When the two Estharians got close to the crossing they were stopped by crowds of men coming from both directions. They stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of the massive army of werewolves.

"Dammit!" Laharl cursed. "I'm sick of this shit!" He barred his black painted claws and pierced them through the ground in a crouched position. Black lines began to form in the dirt and traveled towards the men like swift thin snakes. They looked like gunpowder trails headed towards dynamite sticks. Only there was no explosion when the cables connected with the dumb creatures' feet. A black sphere devoured most of them in the blink of an eye. Only a few hadn't been enveloped by Laharl's "black hole" attack. And the three that remained…ran. The Estharian suo proceeded on faster than ever now.

"We're close to outside," Squall announced. "I can smell water again."

**Seifer**

Being a man who feared very few things, if almost nothing, Seifer was avoiding the sounds of the explosions. The dust was interfering with his sense of smell for some reason. One minute he could smell the strong scent of lilacs, the next he couldn't. Whenever he did get strings of the smell it seemed as if it were rushing at him at full force. As faulty as his nose had become, he was indeed correct.

A short, (unfortunately) dark haired youth came sprinting down a corridor while supporting what looked like a dead body. No. It was that fucker from before, Seifer thought angrily. It looked like he was unconscious, Seifer could sense his pulse.

Zell held a gun in his left hand and hoisted the dipshit on the opposite shoulder he aimed at Seifer when he saw him. Seifer narrowed his eyes."Put both of those pieces of junk down, before I have to hurt you," Seifer threatened.

Zell cocked the gun back. "Get out of my way, or I'll blast through you," Zell warned.

"You don't have the guts. I can smell fear all over you. If you were gonna shot you'd have done it already." Seifer had explored a great deal of this side of the underground city. There was an exit that led to the surface right behind him. Seifer had had enough; he could smell those two Estharians coming at full speed. With swiftness Seifer kicked the gun out of Zell's hand making it smack the wall. It didn't break so easily, in fact not even a scratch was laid to it. He back handed Zell, causing him to drop Irvine. Seifer caught Chicken before he could hit the floor with that prick, who hadn't gotten up.

That was the first time, Seifer had to hit Zell. It felt good to know he had such power and dominance. He picked Zell up and slung him over his shoulder like a caveman had caught a dead lion. He had finally caught his prey. He kept moving forward and took this opportunity to breathe in the sweet and salty smell of Zell's hair. He was a pervert and proud of the fact. And since he was so proud of that fact, he changed Chicken's position so that he had his legs wrapped around Seifer's waist and his arms on his shoulders. It made Seifer poke his tool into Chicken's stomach, but who cares it's not like he was a wake. The cowboy was left behind on the ground.

Seifer came to the second opening that led to the surface. He half-flew to the top jumping like no human could and carefully landed so as not to hurt Chicken. Where could he go? Should he take Zell back to his motel? Or go somewhere where it'd be even harder to be located.

Someone was in the forest with him. Several people, he affirmed. About 16 pairs of shoes crunched the twigs surrounding him. He couldn't escape. Beams of light were on him and almost blinding him. Then there was the big spotlight and the loud chopping sound from above. There was a silver helicopter with an Estharian emblem on it. Seifer whirled around in every direction. He was outnumbered by the Loire kingdom's army it seemed.

He was held at gun point by vampire soldiers in metallic stretch suits. They looked like space flies with their big red sensors at the top of their head. The moonlight reflected off of their suits causing even more light to Seifer's eyes, which were starting to feel just a tad sensitive.

His rival and his rival's lapdog emerged from the shadows. "You didn't really think I'd let you run away with him did you?" Squall asked with a dark grin.

"Well if you didn't just hit puberty, then I don't know what sparked this sudden spurge of bravery," Seifer teased the two slightly younger demons causing them to frown.

"Shut up, you Squid! You'll be sorry you ever fucked with Loire property!" Laharl barked.

All the soldiers flinched at Laharl's profanity and hot temper. Squid was a bad word to call a vampire. It meant the "lowest of the low". So low your social status was equal to that of the bottom of the ocean. It was basically the equivalent of "scum" or "bum". Seifer didn't phase at the word, but Squall showed annoyance. "What did I tell you about that?" he snapped. "Go wait in the chopper," he commanded.

"But, sire I-"

"NOW!"

Laharl hung his head low and leaped swiftly into one of the passenger seats in the helicopter. Seifer made sure the kid heard him laughing before he was out of earshot. "Hand it over now," Squall ordered.

Seifer sighed in defeat. "You want it?" he asked and threw him at Squall hoping to anger the prince if Chicken got hurt because puberty boy had failed to catch him. "You can have it."

And indeed Squall had caught it. That's all Zell was to the both of them: Property. Chicken laid in Squall's arms with his head hanging to the side. He looked dead whenever Seifer saw someone else hold him like that. But, when Seifer was holding Chiken, he felt a sense of completion. No matter how hard he tried to deny it. The smell of lilacs were comforting, and now fucking Squall was experiencing it.

The brunet vampire looked down at his prey and smiled. "Looks like I win," he boasted silently. Seifer glared at him. "Kill him," Squall had given his orders to his soldiers and leaped into his chopper leaving the blond vampire on the ground. Seifer felt the presence of the army closing the circle on him as he watched the noisy machine fly away with the beautiful angel who smelled like lilacs.

He wasn't going down without a fight.

**TBC**

**A/N: Wow this chapter was the longest I've ever written. But it's the conclusion of "The Clash of the Clans" arc. Lol, the way Nida made me write him ended up as a parallel of Barret from FFVII. With his smart mouth and "shoot every muthafucka up" attitude lol. Thanks for your reviews and adds! Keep at it. It keeps me going faster! **

**Anyway I'm goin' to sleep. I gotta be up in 5 and a half hours and go to work right after. Wish me luck on my beginning of college!**


	14. A Truce

**A/N: Yo, yo yo! It's lawchan' crazy ass back to update! So how has everyone been? Enjoying the summer? I'm enjoying mine going to college and making friends and going to parties and ending up in bed with guys who I've never seen bef-okay I'm going too much into detail. But, anyway sorry it took so long for me to update! T_T I'm a studier! Anyway I just wanna thank everyone who has stayed with me since the beginning You've been real supportive! **

**ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING: This chapter contains our first sex scene!**

**ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Warning(s): Violence, non-con and slight non-con, swearing, sex and sexual references, deleted scene(s)**

**Chapter 14: A Truce**

**Fujin**

The two drenched girls walked aimlessly around what they at first thought was just an underground cave, but came to find out it was actually some sort of village. Explosions could be heard in the distance on the opposite sides of thick walls.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Fujin affirmed.

"Stop complaining! How often are you going to be able to explore a demon city?" Selphie exclaimed.

"I never said I WANTED to! You sort of just dragged me in deep water with you…literally." Selphie paid no attention to her silver haired companion. They made their way to an intersection. "Which way?" Fujin asked.

"It doesn't really matter, I guess. Every where seems to be leading to the same place…" she surmised.

Fujin sighed in annoyance. She should've stunned the eccentric girl when she had the chance. "Let's try this way," Fujin suggested, taking the lead for the first time.

The brunette in heart shaped pajamas and bunny slippers bounced after Fujin. They made their way into a large room with pillars. "Hey, this place looks like a shopping center without the open stores!"

"What makes you think that?" Fujin asked.

Before Selphie could answer, their attention was snatched by a heavy snort coming from the entrance of the bazaar. They whipped around and standing taller than 7 feet was a tan muscular beast staring curiously at the two little "explorers".

The feeling of playing adventure had long fled from Selphie's mind. Fujin was scared stiff, but still noticed that this werewolf wasn't drooling with ferocity like the others she had seen that night of the car accident. It was breathing heavily and snorting in curiosity. Without a moment's notice, the beast charged at the two girls who were now running for their life.

Evading the monster's inch-close swings were easy as they shifted through the pillars, and never running side by side. Something they had both agreed upon mentally. The dog had become more and more frustrated as the girls thwarted his every attack and dulled his claws. He was confused and dumb and resorted to berserking so he could tackle anything he saw moving on two skinny legs.

The two girls were forced to meet up at the only way out of the room and back into the corridors. They were running side by side once again, but they could see clear ahead that the hallway was dividing into two lanes. "On the count of three, I'll cross in front of you and you cross behind me!" Selphie declared.

That was a good idea, yet that was a bad idea, Fujin thought. But she couldn't think of anything else.

Once they parted down separate hallways the werewolf came to a stop at the middle. The two girls kept moving not being able to see each other anymore. Not only could Fujin not see Selphie, but she couldn't see the werewolf either. It had followed Selphie!

**Zell**

Soft white linen swam between the fingers of little hands. The captured boy grasped them tightly and shut his eyes tight so he wouldn't take notice of the new environment that he knew he was in. He was shutting his eyes so tightly salty tears began to fall down his face. He had remembered everything the moment he woke up. He was trying to save Irvine. Then Seifer stopped him and hit him…_hard_.

The captive began making assumptions of where he was without opening his eyes. Was he in a hotel room, rented out by Seifer for a quick fuck? Had it already happened while he was unconscious and Zell was in the room deserted and by himself?

It sounded like Seifer would do something like that. That man would do anything to get what he wanted it seemed like. The only way to figure anything out was to open his eyes, no matter how scared. He opened both of them at once. No point in dawdling. He was in a dim room it seemed. Not a hotel room but a lavishly furnished bedroom. He raised himself up in the bed that seemed to be made for a king on a mattress that promised a full night of sleep.

He looked around, thankful that the room wasn't brightly lit, blinding his eyes that had been shut for who knows how long? Marble walls, bears for rugs with the heads still attached, weapons along the wall ranging from guns to swords and knives. An oak dresser stood far across from the bed and resting atop of it was a mirror, larger than any mirror Zell had ever seen. He could see the whole other side of the room in one scope, and showing at a first glance that this whole room was an insult to nature. It reminded Zell of a miniature version of Martine's house. Did all this belong to Seifer?

He swung his legs over the bed and soft snow bear fur tickled its way between Zell's bare toes. He stepped off of the poor thing as if it had roared in protest and was still alive. No, maybe he wasn't in Seifer's house after all. The thought seemed more and more ridiculous. A man-rather monster, Zell thought bitterly-as rough as Seifer could never have such taste like this. It was like royalty lived here. Zell walked over towards the mirror that sat on the dresser making sure not to step on any "animals".

He examined himself in it and noticed the bruise under his eye. Seifer had done that, definitely. Why did he have to be so cruel? He examined himself further and noticed his lack of blood covered clothes, but also his lack of clothes in general. He was clad in only black briefs that were not his but seemed to fit him anyway. Realizing this had made the temperature in the room go down immensely.

His tattoo was burning brightly in his face as if taunting him. He had covered it up so many times over the past few weeks while on campus, that he had forgotten what his real skin looked like. It certainly did fill the gap.

Last but not least, his hair. The tattoo was nothing compared to the golden mane shimmering off of the mirror from the little light that was given from the ceiling. He had expected the tattoo to be shown, but his hair was another story. His eyes grew wide when he noticed his original color back to haunt him. One of the best parts about being Ellie was that he got to have black hair. He went from a chicken to a crow, and now back to a chicken.

That's it, Zell thought finally. It's time to leave this place. Scanning the room with quick blue eyes, he saw two oak doors that were a few yards away from the bed on the same wall. He stormed towards the doors not caring if he stepped on animals this time, just furious that someone had the nerve to find out about his identity. He wasn't Zell! He just wasn't!

Before he could place his hand on the brass knob of the door it swung open slowly, revealing a slightly taller and leaner dark figure in the doorway, making Zell halt.

"And where do you think you're going?" A man who Zell hadn't expected to see asked.

"You? But, I thought Seifer. How did I-"

"You talk too much," Squall interrupted. He closed the door behind him with his booted foot and leaned against it with his arms folded and his eyes closed in annoyance.

Zell watched him silently and became red in anger now who knew exactly who to be mad at. "How dare you change the color of my hair! Take my clothes and lock me up in here! You had no right to do that!" Zell shouted.

Squall opened his eyes and closed them again when Zell finished talking. "Whatever…"

Zell took a step back. "Hey! Are you even listening?"

"Yes, unfortunately. I'm trying to think of something right now," he responded in a calm and maybe even slightly bored tone.

"You _should_ be thinking about giving me my clothes and moving out of the way so I can leave!" Zell tried to finish the brunet's thoughts for him.

Squall gave a cocky low chuckle. "You're not going anywhere, for a while, my Zell."

"Don't call me _your _Zell. As a matter of fact I don't even want you to say my name, it's creepy." Zell felt his mind going off course and immediately jumped back on track. "What do you mean?"

"You were brought here for two purposes and two purposes only. First: You're going to marry me. Second: You're going to give me an heir to the throne of this kingdom. Not in that particular order, but you get the idea. It's really simple," the dark vampire explained taking a step closer.

Zell stood there on the spot with a blank expression. "What did you say?

Squall sighed. "I _said…_You're going to marry-"

"No I heard what you said," Zell interrupted, mouth now dry. "What I meant was…umm well I don't know what I meant. But, neither of those is going to happen, sorry. You need two people to get married and I'm not consenting to that. In fact I didn't consent to _any_ of this. You just show up one night when I'm running from "stalker number 1", and decide to make me your-" Zell was becoming out of breath and fidgety. He was wishing he had never gotten out of bed right about now. "What you're saying doesn't even make sense! Have your babies? What the fuck have you been smoking? Have you even noticed that I'm male?"

Squall shrugged. "Yeah…so?"

Zell wasn't expecting that response but moved forward anyway. "Well I _thought_ vampires just wanted to drain blood of humans, not have sex with them. But you and Seifer both proved me wrong a long time ago when you started touching me...awkwardly" Zell noticed Squall's lip quiver at the sound of Seifer's name. Zell had just gotten a stroke of genius. "Besides. I'm already pregnant…"

Squall's eyes flashed in amusement. "Is that right? Then who's the lucky daddy?"

Zell grinned before landing the blow. "Seifer, o' course." Squall's head lifted up and locked his eyes on Zell's. The blond boy snickered evilly behind his victorious expression. "What? You didn't really think I'd let _you_ fuck me do you? I only let real men touch me."

**!SMACK!**

Zell held his face with his hand. He looked into Squall's eyes venomously. The dark vampire had a hand on his hip and the other he was shaking the sting off. He was breathing deeply like and angry animal and glared at Zell with hatred. "Let's get a few things straight," the enraged man began. "There are rules in this castle. Number one is: if you say _that_ name again, I'll snap those cute little legs of yours like twigs. Number two: Lie to me again like you just did, and I'll slap you so hard the white will come off of your teeth. And number three: Fail to obey me, and all the luxuries I have to offer you the whole time you're here, will vanish; you'll be doing labor for weeks with the slaves, which is beyond brutal. Now that you know your place in this castle, the first thing I want you to do is get over the love tap I gave you and go sit on the bed."

Zell did as he was told immediately. That was far from a love tap. Zell had been hit in the face with an open hand and could even feel blood starting to form from a scratch under his eye. Squall's claw must have broken his skin. He had time to think about what he had just happened in the last 5 minutes on the walk from the doors to the bed (it was a pretty long trip in the big bedroom). Squall must have been serious about a lot of things. No, not a lot of things, EVERYTHING he said. This was his castle, and probably his bedroom. He brought Zell here not just for sex, but to be a tool for breeding! To top it off, he was being forced to marry this demon!

Before he had been caught, Zell thought that the nicer of the two vampires would have been Squall. He was wrong. Behind those cool sad eyes and lean body, was a fierce monster no different than Seifer who only thought of Zell as property, or as the blond vampire would call him a "feathery piece of ass". Now that Zell thought back to when he first arrived in Deiling, Squall was always shy around Zell. Was it just an act? Zell lay down on the bed on his side, with his back facing the man who had just struck him. He would have cried, but it was only pain, and he had the feeling that that wouldn't be the only time he'd be hurt that night.

**Squall**

How dare he disrespect him? It was time for Squall to stop pussying around. He was good at being a good friend, warrior, commander of battle, whatever. What good a prince would he be if he didn't have a spouse to be a prince for in the first place? When it came to action upon his attractions, such as the kind he felt towards Zell, he must admit, he was pretty clueless on how to act upon them. It made him come off as a little shy when he was around Zell, because he didn't know what to say, and he believed in respecting Zell's body as if it were his own.

And after tonight, in a sense, Zell's body _will_ be Squall's body, because the small toned stomach that belonged to Zell would have Squall's son growing inside of it. And for that reason, Zell would be even weaker than what he already was, despite being human. The women in this castle respect their men because they are weaker. Why should Zell be any different? He was definitely weaker than Squall so he had better start acting more dependant.

Squall kicked his shoes off in the corner of the room and walked over to the smaller boy lying on the bed. "Look at me," he commanded. The blond slowly turned his eyes towards Squall's. He climbed on the bed next to Zell. _'I'm sorry I hit you,´ _is what Squall wanted so badly to say at that moment, for some odd reason. NEVER, he thought. He would never apologize to a Hume for something that was right. He climbed on the bed and sat up on his knees facing Zell. Instead what he said was, "Unbuckle my belt and get me ready." Zell flinched at the command and looked at Squall questioningly. No second guessing the prince was serious.

Squall waited patiently as he watched the blond sit on his knees, meeting squall at eye level. With trembling hands he reached for the button and zipper of Squall's pants. He undid the crotch area without touching Squall's junk, but the dominating vampire would have none of that. He wanted Zell to touch him inappropriately, even if he was being forced to do so Squall grabbed Zell's wrists and pulled his hands into the imprint of Squall's cock on his pants. Zell hadn't flinched that time. Maybe he was expecting it.

The vampire was hard, and he became even harder as he made Zell massage him through the material. "Now by yourself," Squall commanded. He let go of the younger boy's wrists and was glad that Zell's hands continued curiously in the same motion. The blond was fixated on what he was doing, seeming like he was trying hard to make Squall feel good. And he was. He even changed the direction of his rubbing. Zell didn't know it but he was gradually making this an experience instead of keeping this going into the direction of an eventual disaster as he used to think before he had finally been caught. The feeling of the flesh beneath the tattooed boy's hand was hard, yet fleshy, thick and even a little scary considering its size. It was big…

The vampire's dick wanted more friction and his body began to pulse upward against Zell's massaging hand. It felt pretty good, but he was starting to worry that this would end too soon, although vampires (especially the males) were known for enduring sex for long periods of time.

"Stop now," Squall ordered with a dry throat. The blond did as he was told. "I want you to use your mouth." The blond blushed and fidgeted with his fingers. The blank look on his face screamed that he didn't know how. This surprised Squall because while Zell was using his hands, he hadn't resembled any type of virgin.

"Ummm…" Zell hummed nervously.

"Here," Squall interrupted with a nagging thought. He would have to _show _Zell. A blowjob would be considered as being submissive for a male vampire in Squall's culture, but this was necessary for Zell to learn. It was one of Squall's favorite things to get and he would was going to make sure Zell did it and did it right. He grabbed the boy by the shoulders and laid him down on his back. Zell stared at the white ceiling and wondered if what he was thinking was going to happen. The thought of it excited him, somehow. Squall crawled between Zell's legs on the bed and held them up. His erection became less intense for the moment. Squall placed his cold hands underneath Zell's meaty thighs and held them up so his knees were bent and he'd have easier access to Zell's crotch.

Squall hid a smile when he saw the growing erection underneath the skimpy pair of underwear he had forced the blond hume to wear. Squall raised Zell's legs higher so that his ankles were on top of Squall's hard shoulders. This freed his hands to place two of his fingers on each side of Zell's waist band and remove his short briefs. When Squall was about to tug down on the blond's shorts, Zell grabbed Squall's wrists. "No!" Zell protested. Squall raised an eyebrow.

"Don't ever tell me 'no'." Instead of pulling them down he ripped the cloth apart into two shreds and tossed them off either side of the bed. Zell covered his erection from Squall like a child with his hands and arm. "What are you 12?" The prince asked.

Squall grabbed both of his wrists again, but this time with one hand and pinned them both above the blond's head. Zell's cock was visible for the whole world to see. Squall stroked it to hardness, making Zell jerk. "Uhnn, no! STOP!"

Squall ignored him and lowered his neck. Before he engulfed Zell's length with his wet mouth he inhaled the sent of lilacs coming strong from his crotch. 'So that's where the flowery smell comes from,' the vampire thought as he sheathed his fangs and took Zell in his mouth. Zell's eyes shot open at the feel of the wet heat. He began to take deeper breaths and his resistance against Squall's hand slacked. Squall used the other hand to fondle Zell's balls. Zell moaned and thrust eagerly into Squall's mouth. Squall dominated the Hume's hips with his free hand by pinning them to the bed. He had become hard listening to Zell's moans above him and wanted to fuck him so badly. After too short of a time of Zell's blowjob, Squall stopped and turned a moaning Zell into a whining Zell. "Why'd you stop?" he pouted.

"Because it's your turn now. Do it exactly like that, and I might do it again," he answered with a serious tone. Zell's facial expression became determined. He sat up and pushed Squall back so his head was at the foot of the bed. Squall allowed the little flower to assume he had control. It secretly turned Squall on to see him so feisty. Zell pulled down Squall's pants, the sound of the metal clinking buckles ringing through the bedroom like bells. Squall wore sky blue briefs. It had just hit Zell that in his subconscious, he always pictured Squall as a brief boy. "What?" Squall asked impatiently.

Squall had on nothing but his black t-shirt and his blue briefs. "Nothin'," he answered. Zell grabbed the front of the cotton material with one hand and revealed the vampire's tool that stood proudly. Zell's eyes grew wide again. His mind had given it no justice when he felt it moments ago. It was bigger than he imagined and the color was pale, more so than the rest of Squall's body. Dark, long curly patches of hair surrounded Squall's crotch. Zell grabbed it by the shaft and kept it still while he put a decent majority of it in his mouth. The first thing Zell experienced was the smell. Hot, musky, dominant and manly. He was actually with a man, regardless of if he wasn't a Human, Squall exuberated masculinity. When Zell put the throbbing meat in his mouth he could feel it pulsing against his cheek and on his tongue. Zell had heard of "deepthroating" but didn't want to try it, for fear of choking.

It actually impressed Squall at how much he had taken for his first time. And officially, Zell's mouth was no longer a virgin. Zell's _body_ would take way more cock than his mouth was taking, though, Squall decided. In fact, Squall was determined to give the blond ALL of it. But for now, Squall laid back and enjoyed what he had been waiting months to get his hands on. A grunt came from the vampire's lips. Not a moan. Moaning was for women. Squall peeked at Zell down there working his magic. Sliding his tongue up and down the thick meat stick and working his magic. That sight was hot.

Cold air hit Squall's cock all of a sudden. Squall looked at Zell questioningly and was about to ask if he had told the blond to stop, but the hume had spoke first. "Do you like that?" he asked with vulnerable eyes "Uhn. Yeah." Squall answered a little to happily and immediately put his mask of control back on. Zell continued with out being told.

Squall pumped his pelvis into Zell's mouth just one time and could feel his tip hit the back of Zell's throat. The tattooed blond jumped back and clasped his neck with one hand. Zell licked saliva off of his bottom lip, making Squall even more aroused than he could possibly. "Just trying to see how much you could take," Squall explained unsympathetically.

The feeling of the warm hot mouth that Squall had fantasized about once before was gone. By the way his fantasy didn't give the real thing any justice what so ever. Zell did extremely well for his first blowjob (Squall didn't even feel his teeth), and Squall had a feeling that the blond had an idea of what control he had over this vampire. He had to force himself not shove his hot length back inside Zell's mouth again. The main event needed to be underway soon.

Squall began to jack off in front of Zell to keep himself hard, not that that was really difficult since he was watching Zell the whole time as he did it. Zell stared at what Squall was doing. Pretty soon it turned to gaping then after that it was drooling. Zell had the sudden urge to touch himself too, but Squall stopped him. "Get on your back again."

Zell almost whined, but did as he was told. Squall stopped stroking himself and crawled over to Zell, grabbing his knees and opening his legs. Zell wrapped his legs around Squall's waist, only in a response to Squall's actions. Squall advanced his hips on Zell's unsuspecting bottom and nudged his large head at Zell's cleft. It made Zell jump and squirm. Squall rolled his eyes at the big baby. "Keep still," he said.

"I can't. Your-"

"That's kind of the point."

Zell looked up at the scared vampire towering above him. Squall's forearms were locked with the support of the bed on either side of Zell's head. His head was inches away from Zell's and Zell could feel Squall's breath on his mouth. All of this distracted Zell because it was making him feel an unfamiliar feeling. But his logical sense had still managed to speak for itself. "I know, but do you really have to-"

A scream filled the room, as Squall pushed his large wet dick inside of Zell all at once. Zell tried to push Squall off of him but there was and never will be any chance of that happening. "Oh, fuck!" Squall exclaimed trying to overcome the tightness that clung to his meat.

Zell was crying now and didn't give a fuck who heard him or how much he was embarrassing himself. He had been penetrated by something that obviously wasn't supposed to be inside of him, and it felt dirty, and big, and evil. The blond kicked his legs behind the vampire as a reoccurring reflex. But they were so wild that Squall couldn't concentrate on easing the rest of himself fully into Zell, so he took the humes ankles and placed them on his shoulders. The new angle opened up the blond even more, making him scream even louder until his voice became hoarse. "Shit," Squall continued to exclaim. "It's so tight!" Squall forgot about feeling sorry for the teen, he had felt bad for only half a second after shoving it in all at once, but it was the only way he could get Zell to shut up.

Zell could feel how Squall kept getting thicker and harder at every push. Tears streamed down Zell's cheeks and onto the pillow behind his head. No longer looking into Squall's comforting eyes, he shut them so tight he could see stars behind his eyelids. It helped the pain none so ever.

With one final push past the tight ring of muscle and a grunt, Squall was completely inside Zell. His cock was completely invisible and buried inside the resistant tight body. Squall stayed still while he was inside the angel, allowing Zell to get used to him. He figured he might as well give him that much, since he had practically dived right in. If he hadn't done that, though Zell would've endured pain longer. The prince did his prey a favor whether he realized it or not.

The room was quiet save for the occasional sob that came from the smaller body underneath Squall. The whole time the vampire avoided that sad expression. It made him feel a little guilty that he was causing this beautiful angel underneath him pain.

The blond calmed down as his body became accustomed to the intrusion. Meanwhile, Squall was going crazy. Without a warning, Squall began rocking immediately eliciting sounds from off of Zell's lips. "Stop," Zell pleaded in a defeated tone. Squall just closed his eyes, licked his lips, and shook his head 'no'. "Haa-uhnn! Please!?" He cried with a tear forcing itself out of the corner of his eye.

Squall picked up the pace, gyrating his hips in a forward and down motion inside Zell's hole. Half an hour into it, Squall was going full out, not being able to control himself. It was like an animal had taken over him. Zell hasn't said anything for a while and was praying this would end soon, for his first time the pain outweighed the pleasure a little bit more. His last attempt to get away was, "I have to go pee real bad," he lied. Squall continued to pound into him as if he never even heard the blond talk. "Unh, hold-it in-groaaah!"

Squall opened his eyes and looked at Zell sobbing underneath him. He couldn't look at him like this any longer, it was ruining his concentration and making it less enjoyable. He had finally gotten fed up and pulled out of Zell quickly. Zell sighed in relief at the last feeling, only to have it snatched away as he was flipped over onto his hands and knees. His ample behind was left in the air for Squall's taking, and the vampire wasted no time in doing so.

Another scream unleashed itself in the large room as Squall shoved himself inside of Zell. He used his hands to balance himself on Zell's hips and kept his prey still as he took him. Squall continued the same pace on Zell if not faster since this position allowed him more access and most importantly, Squall wouldn't have to be weakened by Zell's accusing stare.

Zell felt like his knees were going to give out from underneath him, along with his elbows. Squall was pushing all of his weight into Zell's backside and couldn't support the muscled man pounding into him any longer.

Squall could feel Zell giving in to the weight and before the blond could collapse underneath him, the vampire reached around laid Zell's forearms down on the bed so that his chest could sit on the bed, took his knees and nudged Zell's thighs apart so he could balance better. This position made Zell feel like a slut somehow, he wanted to look back at Squall, but then again he didn't want to look back. He was scared of what he might see. Zell's moans and pants were driving Squall insane as he pounded into Zell faster and faster. So hard he could feel his wet balls, saturated with saliva and precum that was leaking out of Zell, slapping against Zell's ass.

Squall groaned as he got closer, he could feel the pressure building in his shaft ready to explode inside the smaller boy's body. He jerked body jerked and spasmed uncontrollably and he rammed himself into Zell one last time eliciting a scream from the smaller boy one last time, before he pumped his demon seed into him.

Zell tightened around Squall's arousal uncomfortable and could fell hot, wet fluids entering him. It felt weird and a little gross. Squall made a few more remaining pumps that were left in him before his orgasm slowed down.

Squall stayed inside of his prey so nothing would leak out. The two boys waited in silence as the hot black liquid drained all the way inside Zell's body. Squall stared at the sweaty blond angel underneath him, but Zell stared at the pillows underneath himself. He was exhausted and didn't care what happened to him now, just thankful that it was over.

The tattooed blond was fast asleep/unconscious when Squall pulled it out. Squall opened Zell's hole with his fingers and examined the inside of him. He was leaking black liquid out of his hole onto the white sheets. It was understandable that a bit of cum would leak out, it was so much after all and Zell was so tight. Squall stared at the sleeping flesh. Now Squall examined himself. He looked down at his cock that was slowly becoming "flaccid" , and his balls and thighs were covered in dark fluids as well.

Soft snores were coming from the angel and Squall was becoming hard again. He could so easily take him a few more times, and Squall doubted Zell would wake up, but he controlled himself so that when the time came and Zell was tight and vulnerable again, he'd be unrelenting. Squall cleaned his black cum off himself and put his clothes back on. It would have been nice to snuggle with the kid, but he didn't want to look soft when Zell woke up. He had an image to uphold. He left silently without looking back, no matter how hard he wanted to kiss the tattooed cheek goodnight.

**Irvine**

_'__Trust me, the longer you wait, the more likely it is that that boy will leave you'._ Martine's taunting voice rang through Irvine's head between his brain and the dusty floor he woke up on. He lifted his head with his hands and found his drool had combined with the dust from the ground creating a smudgy feel to his face. Sluggishly getting up and practically walk-falling-flying towards any direction, he stopped himself at a nearby wall and attempted to stop his eyeballs from spinning in his head.

` He remembered what happened. Everything, and knew that Ellie was gone. Irvine cursed himself over and over again. He was foolish, an asshole, everything in the book he could think of that represented stupidity.

Quickly getting over himself he dusted off and ran up towards the exit of the cave. When he climbed up he realized he was on the other side of the forest. He saw that vampire from before standing a few feet away staring up at the night sky. Irvine approached him.

"Don't bother, kid. I aint gotta reason to fight you now," Seifer said.

Irvine took his hat off and scratched his sweaty scalp. "And why is that?"

"Take a look around. He's gone," Seifer pointed out.

Irvine knew the scarred vampire was talking about Ellie. "Well you know what? I wasn't thinkin' about sittin' here and letting my _boyfriend_ get eaten or fucked by demons. I'm goin' after him."

Seifer grinned. "You and what army?"

"The F.L.A.R.E. army...duh…"

"Oh that's right, you work for the demon slayers, and you want to use one of their jets to get to Squall's castle," Seifer finished for the auburn haired fighter.

"That's right, but the catch is I can't do it alone, and my partner has gone missing. I can't find Nida anywhere. But I was thinking, you're just as good with a gunblade as he is with a whip aren't you?"

"If not better," Seifer added cockily.

Irvine rolled his eyes, "All right then. Better. You and me gotta put our differences aside and fight for what we both want," the marksman explained.

"Well that's just the case now isn't it? We _both _want 'im. What happens if we find him? It's gonna come down to you and me just so you know."

"First off," Irvine began, "It's WHEN we find him. Not IF. Second, After we find him we're gonna kill Squall. This has gone far enough. Then, I'm gonna kill you."

"You mean you're gonna try," Seifer corrected. "It sounds like a good plan, actually. All right then fine. Go rest up, we leave at two p.m."

"I won't be able to rent a plane until 5 p.m."

Seifer ran his fingers through his slick blond hair. "Whatever, call me when you get info. I got a brat I need to find."

They exchanged contact info and Seifer turned to leave, but before he did, "Hey! Wait!" Irvine called.

Irvine jogged towards Seifer. "What now?"

Irvine put his hand out. "Truce?"

Seifer looked at the hand. Truce with another hume? Sounded fishy. But Seifer wanted Chicken more than he had ever wanted anything. "Fine then, truce." The demon and the man shook hands and turned their separate ways until later when they would fly to Esthar together. Seifer muttered under his breath the rest of his half of the agreement. "For now anyways."

**A/N: I was nervous about writing this chapter because of the sex scene. But now that I think about it, it's not half bad…**

**Anyway review and I'll see you in a few weeks!**


	15. Comfort

Irvine

**By lawchan**

**A/N: I think I'm likin' where this story is going. The chapters from here and on are going to be some of my favorite. I can tell. Oh and about the deleted scene in the previous chapter: I've been getting complaints from a few people who say the link is not working. Well it works just fine for most people. Just remember to close all the spaces if you use the one in the chapter, and copy and paste the one properly in my profile if you use that one. And also if you leave a review about that sort of thing make it so that you're not anonymous so that I can actually help you… **

**I'm excited about this chapter because it gives me a chance to introduce an original character! Some of you may know her! She was on so you think you can dance! One of the Rawest Female hip-hop dancers! But I don't wanna spoil anything! READ! And when you're done reading: REVIEW!**

**Kay so anyway about me. I have a boyfriend now yay! That's why I've taken so long to update. Blame him not me. That plus math homework has been a killer. Imagine what its going to be like when the fall quarter starts. I hope the wait between chapters won't be any longer than they already have! Anyway I've missed Zell and co. so let's see how this one turns out!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it --;;;;**

**Warning(s): Swearing, OC**

**Chapter 15: Comfort**

**Selphie**

The brunette struggled to get back to her dormitory. Her knees were scraped from climbing out of the werewolves' den, not that she cared. She was hurting somewhere else a lot more right now and that made everything else feel numb. She struggled to the park that she had found Zell in several hours ago, crying, lonely, hurt. She would wonder if Irvine had found him yet and got the chance to apologize, but she was too distracted by the pain and the bruises she harbored. Her sweat, tears and blood trailed after her leaving a scent for demons that had no desire to hunt right now, with the moon going down and the sun coming up, she was safe at least for now.

She didn't care about anything or anyone right now, not even her self. The worst thing had already happened to her and what was even worse she had to survive it. Selphie would rather be dead right now. She wanted to _die_! No one even knew. No one could _ever _know about this. She would pay the consequences now, whether she decided to acknowledge that there would be any or not. Again, she didn't care she just wanted to _die, _or maybe the next best thing..:Sleep. For a looong time. Maybe a week.

Selphie entered her keycode into her door and almost collapsed on her own carpet. "Quistis?" She called when she didn't see anyone laying in the bed beside hers. Then she remembered, and closed her eyes and fell onto her bed. She'll never see Quistis again. That thought never felt more real than now.

Selphie kicked her muddy, dirty bunny slippers off and pulled the covers back. Maybe if she went to sleep in a nightmare, she'd wake up to real life? Maybe? No, not likely. Because in this story, nightmares are a part of real life.

**Zell **

Zell was afraid to open his eyes again and find that he hadn't dreamt everything last night, the night before, all the way back to when this nightmare began. He had finally been caught and last night the deed was done. He traced his flat muscled stomach with his finger tips. He felt dizzy and his behind hurt like hell. It throbbed in pain, not letting Zell forget the feeling of being taken so roughly on his first time. He opened his eyes slowly and sat up, hugging his knees.

He wished Squall had been less aggressive, didn't he care at all? Did anyone care what Zell wanted? Although some parts of last night had felt good, it wasn't worth what he would have to pay for some time soon. Pain outweighed the pleasure last night, and Zell figured that was the point. He looked over and saw new clothes lying innocently on the nightstand with a note attached to the top. They were for him? How sweet, he thought bitterly…

His bare feet guiltily came into contact with the bear skin that lay on the floor. He cursed under his breath, but still proceeded over to his clothes and the note. He picked up the blue piece of paper, unfolded it and read it under his breath.

_Morning, hume._

_Have fun last night? Sorry you had to wake up alone, but a prince is a very busy demon to be around here. You'll find all that out soon enough. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that these clothes are for you, put them on. Once you do, you'll find everything you need in your room such as a shower and all that good shit this place has. When you feel your ready, come out and explore the kingdom. Until 6 P.M. you're free to do whatever you want, but you must meet in the great hall at exactly that time. Failing to do so will result in severe punishment, by order of the prince. _

_Secretary to the Prince,_

_Laharl_

Zell balled the paper up in his fist in rage and dropped it to the padded floor. 'These people are controlling assholes.' Zell felt like he was being pushed around and told what to do. Although Zell is naïve, this is exactly what was happening.

He held the clothing out in front of him by his fingertips. Umm… There were barely any clothes here at all. It looked like the outfit was a one piece. It was a white cotton pull-over that had a hood attached to it and it was sleeveless. Why would they give him clothes that looked like they were for women? Whatever it was, it was better than nothing, which was his other alternative. He climbed into his clingy outfit and immediately felt like he was about to go into space, and when he looked into the mirror he was reminded of his first day at Incubus. Scared, nervous, and vulnerable. His blond hair stood up like he had been struck by lightning, he didn't have the right supplies to fix it like he would've at home…Speaking of the gothic club house, Zell wondered what was going on there now and how people would react to him not showing up for work or calling. And exactly where was this kingdom located that Zell was in?

**Irvine**

"What the hell do you mean I can't rent out an airship to Esthar!?" Irvine yelled as he slammed his fists on the oak desk that resided in Martine's office. The older gentleman just rubbed his fade like beard across the back of his hands that were propped up by his elbows and kept his eyes closed in calm thought, which further angered the red haired youth.

"Irvine," he began calmly. "I believe I was clear in the beginning of your little escapade with that boy, that if you weren't honest with him as soon as possible, he would leave you. And now look at what has happened. Two of my students are missing, one is dead, and another is badly injured. Now you're proposing that I lend you an airship to dive right into more trouble!?" Martine stood up and looked out of the tall window of his office. Blue skies could be seen and clouds peacefully traveled the Earth as if blood hadn't even been spilled last night.

"Ellie didn't leave me because I was dishonest!" Irvine refuted. "He was taken away by vampire scum. I am a member of F.L.A.R.E and my duty is to protect humans from demons. If you don't let me go on this mission, you're a hypocrite!" the young cowboy tried to play the pride card.

Martine was slightly moved. "Irvine, I'm telling you this for your own good. That boy is doomed. A demon like that wastes no time in planting its seeds in its prey." Irvine flinched at the thought that Ellie could've been raped ruthlessly and impregnated so soon. The thought made him sick to his stomach. "Another thing I need to tell you is that the first day I met that boy I knew there was something…fishy."

"What do you mean?" Irvine asked impatiently.

"Well for starters, his name isn't Ellie Anderson. His name is Zell Dincht. He's not from Deiling either, he's from Balamb."

Irvine stared into the man's scar worn face. "I knew he wasn't from Deiling, but his name isn't real?" Martine simply shook his head. Irvine was stuck wondering why Ellie…Zell…Ellie-had lied. Well it isn't like he was going on any rescue mission anyway.

"I have a lot of explaining to do to that young lady, Quistis', parents. Something like this doesn't go without questions being asked, but seeing as how there were no witnesses and it was at such a late hour, we can call this an unexplainable homicide for now." Irvine nodded his head in agreement. "Whether your other friend Selphie comes out of her room or not for questioning is up to her, I can't have her dorm broken down without raising suspicion amongst other inmates in her building. Why won't she come out anyway?"

Irvine honestly didn't know. To be honest he had forgotten all about Selphie after he woke up. The last thing he told her to stay where she was and make sure no one came down that cave. Had she listened? Was she even in her room? "I don't know, sir," Irvine replied dumbly.

"Well as for my missing crew member, I am most disappointed in you." Irvine looked down and knew he was in trouble. "F.L.A.R.E. members need to look out for each other. You and Nida went against the code and went on a mission that I didn't approve, but since you've turned this into a bigger ordeal than what it needed to be, then it _is_ a mission."

"Sir, it was personal! There was nothing I could do! Nida just disappeared and I couldn't find him because-wait a minute. Did you say that this was now a mission?" Irvine asked hopefully.

**Zell**

Zell wandered the corridors of the castle. It was a crowded place. People dressed in colors he'd never seen before. Were they even people? Maybe they were all vampires. They all looked at him when he walked by, but then looked away eventually when they found something else to distract themselves. He had noticed something: the few women that he noticed were dressed in one-pieces like his own. But there were no other men dressed like him. The men wore clothes that looked powerful, and expensive. They were royalty after all. Some men had gear on, like Squall's too. Were they military? Few women dressed elegantly as well, and even _fewer _females wore warrior clothes. Another similarity Zell found between himself and the women with one pieces was that they too wore no shoes. Zell glanced at their bare feet and then down at his own.

He needed answers. As if on cue, sunlight hit the side of his face full force. He had completely forgotten about the sun's existence. It shined brightly through the two _very_ large oak doors that led outside to the courtyard. None of the vampires seemed to mind the sun, he noticed. In fact, it never seemed to be a problem whatsoever from the beginning, now that he thought about it. Fresh air would do him good, the blonde decided.

He walked through the crowds of people cautiously avoiding confrontation. When he finally got outside, he took a deep breath that filled his lungs. He never wanted to let this air go. It felt somehow exhilarating. Eventually he did and walked down stone steps that led down to what looked like a very lively park. Water shot from beautiful fountains in the ground shaped as fish sprouting water from their mouths and bats shooting water from their wings, birds and insects and animals played in trees, and even children. There were children who lived here. People laid in the greenest grass Zell had ever seen and possibly the shiniest as well (it shimmered in the sunlight).

It looked like it stretched for miles, giving Galbadia's campus a run for its money, Zell laughed. His smile quickly diminished as he sat down on a bench. He shouldn't be feeling relaxed or happy around here, but he did. It felt sinful to be enjoying the scenery of a home of demons. Demons who, uncannily, resembled human beings. Who played and laughed, and cried when they got stung by bees, felt nostalgia when they ate ice cream. It didn't make any sense to Zell. None at all…

He would have pictured blood sprouting from the fountains instead of the purest water he'd ever seen. Two children ran past him laughing merrily. A boy and a girl. The girl was playing keep away with a balloon, taunting her younger companion with it and not letting him hold it. Zell sighed and got up from the bench walking around, enjoying the sensation of the grass between his toes.

He felt the need to be alone somewhere. Was that possible outdoors around here? There was a hill that seemed to lead to a place of solace, where the sun hit the hardest. He climbed making sure he'd be able to find his way back for that stupid mandatory thing at 6 P.M. The thought enraged him once again. He should be looking for ways to escape instead of lounging around outdoors. But he had never heard of any place where someone had built kingdoms where he lived. For all he knew he could have been taken to another planet while he was unconscious. Had anyone back home ever heard of it? Did Irvine? Selphie? Nida? He wondered how they were doing as well.

When Zell finally reached the summit of the hill, he had gotten his wish. Solace. Nothing but a statue of a demon in the grass and a bench. He walked up to the marble statue of a man with a shield and sword. Zell read the inscription at his feet. "Jarod O'Mally, protector of the garden. 1895-1978." Old as hell, Zell thought.

He looked to his right and saw an iron black gate with rose vines entwined all over it and shrubbery on the sides of it. Is this what this geezer was protecting all his life? Why isn't anyone here now? He wondered. Well if no one is here to stop me, I'm going in. Groaning was created when Zell pushed the black iron gate open. Must be real old, then.

Tons of smells attacked Zell's nose at once. He sneezed, but continued anyway. And he was thankful he did, because when he walked far enough what he saw was as beautiful as what he smelled. Two things: First the flowers. Of course, it was called "The Garden" that was to be expected. And they _were _beautiful. Many shapes and sizes and colors and fragrances. Some even made sounds and ate pesky lady bugs. However, Zell couldn't help notice the center of it all. The girl (wearing the same outfit as he, but yellow) leaping through the patches.

She was dancing, Zell observed. She moved like an angel, he thought. Like there was no gravity. She did turns and twists and flips and leaps. Her arms were so balletic and her feet were pointed! Who was this girl? Her hair was long and jet black. It came down to the middle of her back and flowed with her movement like a river. Her skin was like chocolate. Like a snicker's bar. When she did another leap in the air higher than Zell had seen the whole time he had been watching, his breath was caught in his throat. She had noticed the gasp and her head turned to him accusingly.

Zell jumped. Maybe she didn't like being watched like that. "Umm…" Zell stammered.

"Who are you?" the girl asked. "you aint sposed to be here."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you its just…that was AMAZING!" Zell exclaimed while taking note of the girl's piercing above her left brow and her teal colored eyes.

She was breathing deeply after her "work out". Then, the look in her eyes changed. She stared at Zell for a while before saying, "For real? You really thought so?"

Zell became more at ease, knowing that he might not get hurt. "Well of course. Don't you think so?"

"Well, I never really get an honest opinion as much as I'm supposed to. Thanks by the way." She smiled and seemed to get enough air in her lungs. "So what's yo' name?"

"My name is Zell."

"Mines Comfort. Good ta meetcha. You hungry? I got food ova here," she offered gesturing to a bench.

Zell's tummy growled loudly and answered the question. Comfort laughed. "Not funny, those bastards haven't even fed me up there."

"Where you stay at?"

"Well I guess you could say I live up there at the castle," Zell answered as he sat down on a bench.

Comfort's eyes grew wide. "You live at the Loire Castle?"

Zell didn't mean to give that answer. "Well, I don't really _live _there. I'm just staying there until he's done with-" Zell's eyes grew dead as comfort put a lunchbox in between them. He had done so well in trying not to think of Squall all day. And now talking with another human was giving him flashes of last night and the brown haired man.

Comfort looked questioningly at Zell. "You aight?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. So anyway, where'd you learned to dance like that?" he asked hopefully changing the subject.

"Well, I was traded from mah home kingdom to King Laguna's to be a servant dancer. My family is in debt, and I'm helpin' 'em out by performing here for da festivities. When I make my share I can go back to the Fedoke Kingdom. I'm so close to goin' back home I can taste it!" she exclaimed

Zell tilted his head to the side in thought. "Well I guess that's better than doing slave work right?"

"Yeah," she said as she bit into an apple. "So tell me abat chaself. I never seen you around here befo'."

"Ummm, it's sort of embarrassing. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Aight find by me," the pierced girl said. "But imma find out anyway, so you best tell me now. I'm nosy like dat. Haha."

Zell laughed and put his piece of chicken down. "Okay fine. Promise you won't tell anyone though," Zell felt stupid. As if people wouldn't find out sooner or later anyway if Squall really meant what he said about marriage. Comfort nodded in agreement, Zell felt like he could trust comfort, just something about her. "I've been hunted for a long time to give the prince an heir and a seat by the throne. Not by my approval or anything," Zell added quickly at the widening of Comfort's eyes. "It looks like he's finally gonna get what he wants," Zell finished staring down at the ground.

"You mean to tell me you _HUMAN!?" _Comfort stared into Zell's eyes while her mouth was open.

Zell tilted his head to the side. "Umm, you mean you didn't know? Aren't you a vamp-"

"DON'T. Say it, please. I'd kill myself If I ever became one o' dem. Imma hunned percent all human girl. It's just so surprising to meet another actual hume. I know there are a few working as servants or slaves around here. But, I never actually met one here. It's so rare. By the way the Fedoke' Kingdom is hume inhabited here on Esthar. We just do business with the vampires. Something went wrong and well, here I am…" Comfort explained. She became silent as if in thought and ate some chips.

"I see…" Zell replied also in thought. So this place was Esthar. He had _definitely _heard of it.

"So you mean to tell me you're gonna marry the prince and give 'em a kid?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. I don't wanna be here. I had my whole life planned out." And what was that? Zell's sub conscious asked. Run, run, and keep running til your ass falls off? He scowled at himself

"Wow. Dis' is some Jerry Springer type shit," she commented after a moment of silence.

Zell chuckled. "You're funny." His watch beeped. "Shit. I gotta go."

"How about we meet here tomorrow?" Comfort asked eagerly. "I gotta talk to you more. You're human, possibly the only one who can help me."

"I feel the same way. Alright. Tomorrow after noon, then."

"Beastin'! I'll take my break early den."

"Alrighty then…thanks for lunch…See ya." Zell got up and sprinted from the garden, making sure he didn't step on any flowers.

"Hey!" Comfort called after him.

Zell stopped and turned around. "What's up?"

"It's nice to meet you, Zell," Comfort said smiling.

"Yeah you too," Zell replied smiling. And that smile never left him the whole run back to the castle.

**Fujin**

Fujin was found climbing out of a hole after his talk with the cowboy. "Where have you been?" he asked. "I told you to stand on watch and I just saw you climb out of there."

Fujin rolled her eyes. She so wasn't in the mood to take any shit right now, especially from Seifer. This was all his fault after all, she thought bitterly. Not to mention she had looked all over for Selphie. Well maybe not all over, but as far as she could search without being raped or possibly eaten as well. She was pulled down into that hole from the beginning anyway. Never did she voluntarily jump down.

"Please don't give me any shit right now, Seif. I gotta get some sleep."

Seifer raised an eyebrow at his little side-kick. She looked like hell. He didn't have the heart to scold her anymore. He'd have to do it later if there was time, now he had to break the news to her. "We'll talk about it later then. Listen, I'm going on a rescue mission in Esthar. Alone. You're staying at the motel. I just got contact from the hume cowboy that his commander let him rent an aircraft."

Fujin was wide awake now and spoke her mind on instinct. "WHAT!? You're leaving me in that city that never sleeps for a blond piece of-" She had controlled herself in time in an attempt to conceal her jealousy for Zell. Seifer hadn't gone on a rescue mission for her when she was being chased by a werewolf. She had trucked in the demon forest after him! She thought they were a team, but all Seifer could think about was getting laid by that stupid little slut who was probably already thoroughly fucked by now.

Confusion was written across Seifer's face. "Um, yeah. You're a little cranky," he observed as she ruffled her head like a shaggy dog. She only scowled with her red eye in response. "I'm gonna drop you off at the motel now, kay? There's food, water, and safety there. You can't find that where I'm going. And I want you to be safe so…."

Fujin just scowled the tall gunblader's shoes and proceeded towards the car. "Not necessary," she announced in a less loud way she used to talk. Oh god not this again. "I can drive myself. You won't be needing the car where you're going." And just like that she was gone. Leaving Seifer confused. What was with that girl lately?

**Seifer**

The two renagades had met outside of campus grounds. Irvine insisted that they not be seen talking anywhere near the campus.

"We'll leave at sundown. Preparations for the ship will be complete by then. Make sure you bring everything you need."

"Don't worry about me. And I'll know where to find you so don't worry about that either," Seifer replied arrogantly.

"That's a little creepy that you can smell me and know exactly where I am," the cowboy replied.

The demon sighed and just said, "A gift and a curse…"

TBC

**A/N: As far as I know, dinner with the Carways is next. I'm gonna like the next chapter a lot because now I finally have a chance to blast Rinoa! See you next time! Don't forget to review!**


	16. Dinner With Demons

Zell

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Language, Rinoa Bashing, Violence**

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my brother who passed away Aug 24, 08. Beloved Father, Shipmate, Brother, Husband and Son. The world will miss you so much. But no one will miss you more than mom. R.I.P. **

**Disclaimer: W00T! New disclaimer! I do not own any of the boys, places, or airships, or plot from any Final fantasy, although I will say that I and Zell do share Seifer****…**

**Chapter 16: Dinner With Demons**

When Zell entered the same doors he went out of to get outside, he was bombarded by the castle's make-up crew. They grabbed him and practically dragged him through corridors that led to a room that looked like it was made for a movie star. One of those types of dressing rooms with a mirror with lights, makeup and costumes. They sat him down and put makeup everywhere it needed to be, fitted him in clothes that could make even the strongest soldier fall to his knees. When they were done with him he was now presentable for dinner. Apparently dinner was formal around here. That's why he had to be back by 6. Squall must have wanted Zell to have enough time to make himself beautiful. All of a sudden a feeling shot to the pit of Zell's stomach. He felt nervous for dinner. He looked at himself in the mirror of the dressing room.

They had made his complexion pale white instead of the sunny tan it once was. His hair had been slicked back and the outlines of his eyes were pitch black with liquid eyeliner, making him look like a fucking raccoon or something. The white powder they applied hadn't covered up his tattoo, however. Squall must have ordered it to stay on, he thought. That feeling attacked him again and his knees almost buckled.

Zell was wearing a red vest with a white collar shirt underneath and ruffles at the wrists. The shirt underneath was a perfect fit some how, accentuating his waist and hips which made him look and feel womanly. It wasn't a tight fit, but it was snug. For lower wear all he had been given were red satin shorts that were so high they cut off the circulation of his thighs. Red and white boots that came up to below his knees without a heel were given to him. Somewhat a relief, to not have to wear heels for once, he felt comfortable and clean. At least his feet were comfy. The make-up crew had even taken up the liberty of shaving his legs for him, much to Zell's protest.

Did Squall request all of this? Zell felt himself pale. Well, better not keep everyone waiting, he thought. Zell was escorted into the Great Hall. He didn't know where the hell it was after all…

Three pairs of eyes immediately shot to him upon his entrance. Laharl was the owner of one of them. The other two were people Zell had never seen before. One of them was lean and black with Indian textured hair, shiny like it was coated with baby oil. He wore form fitting warrior gear like Squall and Laharl wore, but everyone's was different according to style and color it seemed. Well, his was red and black. The other guy was A heavy-set, yet solid battle scorn man. Zell couldn't make out much of his face because half of it was covered in facial hair. The warrior clothes must have been tailor made, because in order to fit this guy they would have to be (he was almost as big as a truck). He wore a blue bandanna and a scar streamed down the left side of his face like a river. Zell wasn't the only one with face paint, then. All three of them stood with their hands folded in front of them, like the secret service, Zell thought comically.

"Something funny?" Laharl asked.

Zell stopped amusing himself before he got in trouble. "No not at all…"

"Have a seat, Zell," Laharl offered. The teenage demon looked pleasant today. More presentable it seemed. He wore nice robes and his violet hair was pinned upwards for dinner. He gestured Zell towards an already pulled out chair for Zell to sit in. He did as he was told and snuggled into the comfyness of the dinner chair. The three warriors still stood with their hands folded in front of them. After 5 minutes of Zell sitting by himself at a huge table with three goons doing God only knows what behind his back, the blond started getting a little agitated. Plus his inability to not stay quiet nor sit still for more than a few minutes was nagging him right about now.

"So where is everyone?" Zell asked as he turned around in his chair.

"The Caraways will be here soon, followed by the prince, and the last to arrive will be the king. It goes by order of importance. Since you have no royal title as of yet you were the first to arrive," Laharl explained.

"Well gee thanks for the compliment," he replied after having heard the irritating fact. Not that he was upset about not having a title here, but if he was going to be kidnapped and told what to do, the least these people could do was give him a title. Maybe '_This is the Last Place on Earth I Want to be Right About Now'_? Or perhaps '_Why me?' _Maybe even _'Find someone else whose legs don't have to be forced open for the prince'. _Any of those would have done just fine… "and who are the Caraways?" he asked.

This time the biggest man in the room spoke. "General Caraway is king of the Caraway Kingdom. He's bringing his daughter, the princess, with him as well to discuss business, and offer the prince one more time his daughter's hand in marriage." His baritone voice reverberated off of glass plates.

After Zell got over the paralyzing sound waves that emitted from the man, he asked. "And what's your name?"

Before the man could speak again and cause the room to rumble, the stick-like man next to him said, "This is Ward. I'm Kiros. We're the King's executioneers and second in command of the kingdom." This black man had a warm voice and a warm smile to go with it, Zell decided. Almost motherly even.

"Why am I the only one sitting down then?" Zell asked.

"We can't sit until our equivalent officers come down for dinner. It would be out of place for staff to sit before royalty don't you think? It's only our custom," Laharl explained.

Zell turned back around to the table and to sit properly with his hands folded over his napkin in thought.

Laharl was about to ask him something along the lines of, _'What? Think it's weird the way we have dinner around here? Sorry we don't sit in front of an idiot box and drink beer while our asses get sucked into some sofa,'_ but the large oak doors leading to the great hall opened revealing two guards who escorted what looked like two guests into the hall. One of the guests was a tall muscled man dressed in elegant blue military robes it seemed. The other dressed in the same color sky blue robes with a black corset and matching black shorts to accommodate her petite frame. She had honey blond highlights at the tips of her raven colored hair and scowled when her eyes met Zell's.

"Ah, the Loire Kingdom welcomes you," Laharl greeted. "General Caraway, Miss Caraway. Please take your seats."

To Zell's surprise, Miss Caraway sat down right next to Zell on his left side. The General took his seat in the chair next to the head of the table, which belonged to the king, and waiting patiently.

Miss Caraway was preparing her area for dinner next to Zell, not paying the slightest bit of attention. This felt very awkward for Zell. He thought maybe she was shy so he spoke to her first. "Um, hi there," Zell began friendly enough as always. "My name is Zell."

Miss Caraway just clenched her jaw and glared at him. She lowered her voice so that only he and her could hear and said, "How dare you speak to me, you filth! If you're smart you'd kill yourself now. Marry Squall and I'll kill you. That's _my_ cock and _no one_ else will ride it except _ME_!" Zell stared at her wide eyed and in shock as she put a happy mask on and said in her normal voice, "My name is Rinoa Caraway. I'm the princess of Caraway kingdom. It's such a joy to meet you, Zell." Her eyes glimmered with deceit as she batted her eyelashes.

The two doors opened again. He got that feeling he had before when he was standing in front of the mirror. Now he knew why. Everything that Squall had requested Zell look like, Zell hoped he would be presentable for one man in particular. Why? He didn't know why. He hadn't wanted to do so until last night when…SHIT! He didn't want to think of that now.

Squall walked down towards the table like a proud lion. The candles that illuminated the hall were good lighting for Squall's black robes that he decided to wear for tonight. It made him look less dangerous than what Zell was used to. He looked…_inviting_. His hair was even slicked back for dinner...just like his

Rinoa stood up as Squall approached. A slight twinge of annoyance hit Zell's gut temporarily as he watched the raven haired demon rise. Laharl nudged Zell with his forearm. "What are you doing? Stand when the Prince approaches you!" Laharl whispered frantically to Zell.

When Zell jumped to do this, the bottom of his chair legs groaned violently against the floor making everyone in the hall cringe at the reverberated sound. Zell winced at his goof up and mouthed a guilty 'sorry'. He stood up and watched Squall confront Rinoa first.

She curtseyed and said, "It's an honor to dine with you tonight, your grace." Zell didn't miss the sluttish suggestive look she gave him after her formalities.

To Zell's shock, they kissed on the lips and Squall said, "An honor to have you again, Princess."

Squall set his eyes on Zell next. Zell made sure his jealous look was gone way before he even looked at him. Zell was pissed off at himself for even having those types of thoughts. He didn't give a flying fuck whether a demon kissed another demon woman, did he? Hell no! He was only here because he was forced to be.

Everyone including King Caraway and Rinoa, didn't miss the way Squall's features changed when Squall laid his eyes upon Zell next. He seemed more relaxed, more at ease and relieved. As if he had been waiting all day to see this boy and now he finally had the chance and wanted nothing more than to eat Zell all up with his eyes. Zell was about to do what he learned by watching and bow to his prince, but Squall spoke first. "You look," Laharl's eyebrows rose at this, "stunning."

A cheesy grin grew on Zell's face and before he knew it his mouth spoke before his brain could catch it, "Really? Thank you, that's sweet." Squall did something just now that most people had never seen him do. He sort of…smiled. Not big or grinny like most people did, but silent and warm and barely even noticeable. But Zell noticed for sure. There was silence between the two and Rinoa turned around and scowled.

Laharl coughed to get the demon and the Hume's attention. Zell jumped and proceeded to bow and repeat what Rinoa had said. "It is an honor to dine with you, your grace." The look Zell gave Squall wasn't sluttish, nor was it suggestive. Simply respectful by not making eye contact for too long. Then there was those damn butterflies. Zell felt strange underneath Squall's gaze like this.

Once again to Zell's shock, Squall leaned in and kissed Zell on the mouth. Zell's eyes grew wide while Squall decided to plunder his mouth with his tongue. This was the first time Squall ever kissed Zell. Even during the sex last night, Squall didn't kiss Zell. Zell refused to let Squall's tongue touch his own. He refused to be responsive to the kiss although his body wanted to be. He refused to look like he was enjoying pleasure from a demon in the public of other demons. It was just…wrong…

Squall eventually stopped and swallowed loud enough for only Zell to hear. "An honor to have you." Immediately, as if embarrassed, Squall walked around the table to his own seat, Laharl following close behind.

Zell didn't sit down until Rinoa sat down. The rude princess didn't sit down until Squall sat down. Laharl, Zell, and Rinoa took their seats after Squall sat down. Squall and Laharl took their seats across from Rinoa and Zell. The only one left to wait for was the king and the only ones left standing in the Great Hall were Kiros and Ward. As if on cue, the two doors opened, revealing the man of the hour. A man with long jet black hair and royal purple dress robes, floated down the hall towards his seat. Everyone stood as he approached, and Zell was smart enough to know that if he had to stand for the prince, he damn sure would have to stand for the KING.

Laguna approached Rinoa. After she curtsied, he smiled and kissed his female guest of the evening on both cheeks. He looked behind her and saw the blond boy who must have been the hume. As King Laguna breathed, he smelled a strong scent of lilacs. Zell bowed and when he rose he met the king's eyes. They were cold and tough at first. But when the king spoke…

"Aha! So you must be…dammit I've forgotten your name-"

Zell smiled and helped the dingy king. "My name is Zell."

"AHA! That's it. Zell Dincht of Balamb. How are you this evening?"

"I'm fine and you?" Everyone at the table exchanged glances awkwardly. Zell was addressing the king so informally. Zell was only improvising. He didn't know he wasn't living up to custom.

"Well, I'm excited this evening. After I've spoken with my business associate, we will find out marriage arrangements for our dear prince. You, or the lovely Princess Caraway," the King explained.

Zell had become confused. He thought those arrangements had already been discussed and finalized. "Oh. Well it is an honor to dine with you, your highness." Zell put his hand out to shake the King's hand, but his shoulders were grabbed and the King had placed two kisses on either of Zell's pale cheeks. "Umm…" was all Zell could come up with.

The King went around towards the head of the table and shook his male guest and business partner's hand and took his seat at the head of the table which gave everyone the sign to take their seats once again. Ward and Kiros sat down on King Laguna's left side.

"Thank you all for coming," he announced. "Now let's eat! I'm starving!" Everyone at the table (except for Squall) chuckled a bit at the sudden exclamation. Zell liked the king. He had a sense of humor, which most vampires, it seemed, lacked.

**Seifer**

Seifer brushed a gloved hand through his slick blond hair and then sighed in annoyance. They had been in the aircraft for nearly 2 hours it seemed and all he could see were clouds. He had heard the clouds in Esthar were a lot more dense, but also whiter. As if clean air only inhabited that part of the world. Fucking advanced civilizations, the gunblader cursed.

The vessel was on autopilot and after Seifer had finished cleaning his gunblade after an hour since boarding, he tried to take a nap and relax his muscles. Although he didn't need sleep, he did need relaxation. But when he _just _started to doze off, he heard this waxing noise. Like when a bartender cleans the inside of a glass. Annoyed, he opened one eye slowly, to see his companion of unfortunate events sitting across from him polishing his gun.

The cowboy looked up and smiled a bright blinding smile and said obliviously, "Hey I thought you were asleep this whole time! Wanna help me wax my gun?"

Seifer glared for a minute and then closed his eyes before he answered, "no…"

Irvine frowned in disappointment. "C'mon man we got like thirty more hours to go before we get there. I figured we could bond for a while."

"Fuck off, hume," he stated calmly. "I'm gonna kill you soon after those thirty hours so what's the point of trying to make nice with each other?"

Irvine was offended but didn't let it show. His feeling of acceptance towards humans were delicate especially toward the women and men who held his affections, so he didn't know why he wanted Seifer to like him so much. He had no physical attraction to Seifer neither as a demon nor as a human. "I don't know," he began. "Maybe because my intentions have Zell at heart. I want us to get along so we can both get him out of there like we said we would. I mean we both love him so…"

Seifer looked up and focused on the serious cowboy who had stopped polishing his gun. "Well I'm glad you finally found out Chicken's real name," he sneered. "And by the way, I do NOT. Love him. Love is for weakling little humans. Not for strong demons."

Irvine narrowed his eyes. "Is that so?" Seifer needn't reply. "Well in that case, I feel more sorry now than I ever did for vampires. You can't feel love? That must suck."

"Never bothered me before. We don't need it. Besides, I just wanna fuck. Not because of some stupid vampire legacy to keep or ranks up, but because I'm horny, and I just happened to see Chicken one day and decided. 'That's what I want…'" Seifer knew what he wanted. He had been human once and knew what it was like to love. He knew…

"Speaking of which, why do you call him Chicken?"

Seifer grew slightly red. The nickname had grown a sexual undertone to it that only Seifer and Zell (and maybe Fujin) understood. Chicken was what Zell looked so much like. He's always running away like a chicken. He was fuckable, stubborn and fertile like a chicken in Seifer's eyes. Did that mean Seifer, Squall, and Irvine were nothing but horny roosters? Whichever way you look at it, Zell would be possibly laying an egg in the near future. "Just something I like to say to him to get on his nerves…"

**Zell**

Dinner was passing by smoothly with no problems at all. The castle staff had brought out gourmet meals that were fit for a king (who seemed to be enjoying himself very much down at the Head of the table with his male guest, King Caraway). And although Zell didn't know what they were talking about down there, he really didn't care or even have time to care. He just wanted to eat his delectable lobster gumbo and go to sleep afterwards with a nice full tummy.

This was definitely a perk of being held captive by vampires. Zell knew he would never go hungry. Occasionally, when Zell tried to make eye contact with Squall who was sitting directly across from him, Squall looked back down and occupied himself with his dinner and didn't look back up until Zell's attention was on something else. Like the conversation Rinoa and Laharl were having. Squall had been acting different ever since that kiss. This made Zell feel funny. That feeling he remembered long ago when at the orphanage someone would get adopted, and he would be left behind.

That feeling was…

"So Rinoa, have you been well? How is Angelo?" Squall asked as id he were forcing the words out.

Jealousy…

Zell gripped his fork tightly as he watched the bitch next to him chew her food slowly and then answer. "I'm fine now that I finally get to see you, Squally-kins!" Zell didn't miss the twitch in Squall's eye when she called him that accursed pet bird name. Zell wanted to stab her in the neck with his fork that happened to have roast beef on it right about now. She was basically asking for him to feed it to her through her neck. "I can't wait for our wedding d-OUCH!"

Zell casually sipped his glass of orange juice as Rinoa rubbed her leg and scowled at Zell. Zell put down his drink slowly and dabbed his lips with his napkin before even acting remotely aware that Rinoa had been hurt. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought that was my leg," he gave a mock apologetic smile that the boys across from the table just shrugged off.

Rinoa continued to speak. "Angelo has been fine. I recently taught him a new trick the other day He can glide temporarily." This earned a chuckle from Squall and Laharl.

This was the opportunity to show Squall he was way better than this skank sitting next to him. He didn't know why he wanted to prove himself so bad. All of a sudden he had become feisty when Squall came into the picture. If Rinoa and Zell had a beef with each other, that would have been fine. But now instincts were telling Zell to attack now and ask questions later. "You have a dog, Rinoa?" Zell asked.

Rinoa threw him a glare. It looked like she wanted to start with _not that it's any of your business, but,_ "Yes I do have one. His name is Angelo. Sweet little thing," she answered politely.

"That's so sweet that you have the capacity to care for animals," Zell replied politely enough to the point where it couldn't be recognized as a direct insult.

Rinoa's face scrunched between a smile and a frown. "Umm…why thank you. Maybe later you can meet him. Once Squall and I are married, Angelo will have to move into the Loire Kingdom anyway, right Squally-kins?"

Squall gave a nervous smile behind his glass of blood champagne. "So when is the big day?" Zell asked curiously.

"About three weeks from now," Laharl replied unsurely.

"I'm aiming for October 15th," Squall stated flatly.

"Now now, Squallykins. I thought we decided on a winter wedding.

Squall put down his bloody champagne down and calmly answered, "Rinoa I believe we talked about this the last time you visited."

Rinoa laughed and just brushed off Squall's decision and said, "I was just waiting for you to come to your senses. I'm the only one who can really give you what you want, you know."

"No, Rinoa, you're not the only one who can give me what I want. But you certainly can't give me what I need now can you?"

Zell watched Squall try to keep his cool as he exchanged blows with Rinoa. He nor Laharl dared to interrupt the prince. "If this is about an heir, it can be arranged! Perhaps this puny hume sitting to my right?" she shot back, voice raising slightly making the four men at the head of the table turn their attention to the four youths in the middle.

Zell threw his napkin down, and showed to everyone exactly how rude someone who isn't of royal blood really could be. "If you insult me again, I'm gonna punch you in your fuckin' head," Zell threatened not loudly, but loudly enough to the point where everyone heard him. By the look in his eyes every vampire sort of got the feeling he wasn't kidding.

Rinoa threw down her napkin as well and stood up trying to tower over the sitting boy. "Listen up here you piece of human shit, the only reason you're here is because you're gonna spit out an heir to this kingdom. Don't think you're special just because you're fertile and I am not. I don't know what the prince sees in a loose whore like you any way. You smell like you've been with loads of men."

The two kings at the head of the table had long forgotten their business discussion and watched in horror, yet slight entertainment at the two characters arguing loudly for the whole diner to hear. Kiros didn't want the two to start fighting and Ward wanted-well no one really ever knew what Ward thought most of the time because his facial hair obscured his expressions, but he was probably just on standby. He knew this couldn't possibly get too out of hand.

Zell stood up hastily. He didn't seem to give a shit that when he tried to tower over Rinoa, he couldn't because they were actually very similar in height. "First of all I'm not a whore! Until last night I was a virgin and if I had it my way, it wouldn't have happened that way!" he declared for the first time voicing his objection to his kidnapping in front of people other than Laharl and Squall. No one noticed the slight change in Squall's eyes as when Zell said that. "Second of all, but no less important than the first, you think I'm proud of the fact that human dudes can get pregnant from vampires? You think I want a medal or a cookie for carrying a demon child? Well I don't! So why don't you just take all that anger and rage you harbor towards me and shove it up your dry cunt!!"

"…"

There was silence in the air. Silence from shock. No one in the dinning room could believe what had just come out of the Hume's mouth. He had insulted and embarrassed the princess of Caraway Kingdom and basked in her pale expression. But soon that expression changed into a dark one. Zell took a step back as he watched her eyes glow red and wrinkles consumed her face.

She hissed in anger and bared her fangs. She had transformed completely into some ugly animal with a human figure. She flew at Zell, knocking him down to the ground. It was obvious she was aiming for his neck. She was going to drain him! Laharl was going to break it up before someone (most likely Zell) got hurt, but Squall stopped him by putting his arm in the violet haired demon's path.

Rinoa easily pinned him to the marble floor so he couldn't get up, but Zell was having none of that. Being a dancer made Zell flexible. He kicked his leg all the way up so it hit the back of Rinoa's head. She groaned in pain and minded her skull taking her hands off of the blond. Zell took this opportunity to sock her in the forehead sending her flying backwards on the ground.

"ENOUGH!" Squall slammed his fists down on the table making everyone's plates jump at least a foot off the table. When a hot soup bowl landed he was scorched on his shoulder and fingers. He jumped up from the ground and screamed in pain.

Immediately knowing what happened the king snapped his fingers and healers came and hauled the sizzling boy away, where they'd apply ice and bandages to his burns. They also dragged Rinoa off, who had turned back to her normal form. She looked winded and dizzy like she was seeing stars. Zell wasn't playin'. He said he'd punch her in her fuckin' head, didn't he?

**Squall**

After Zell had been taken away, Squall closed his eyes and beat himself up mentally as much as he could right now. He didn't know if he would have the capacity or time to do so later. He felt bad for harming Zell, although it wasn't his fault. However he didn't let it show, especially with Rinoa's father here. If it looked like he cared more about Zell than Rinoa, he'd insult King Caraway.

"Squall! You and both of your fancies have ruined dinner!" Laguna shrieked breaking Squall's thoughts.

At times like these Squall was thankful to have such a good friend like Laharl. "Your Highness, Zell really isn't that bad and clearly Rinoa attacked him first. He's also human and nervous; he's not used to being around us. I'm assuming he's having what the Humes call "culture shock". Will you please excuse him?"

Laguna cradled his head in his thumb and index finger lazily in thought. "I'll excuse it for tonight," he decided, knowing very well that the kid did have spunk.

Squall and Laharl were relieved. When humans messed up around the castle, they were usually executed. If Zell were married he'd have more protection from these types of disasters. Laharl bowed in gratitude. "Thank you your Highness. Trust me. As the weeks go by, you'll see just how much grace, character, and flow Zell really has." _'Laharl is…such a good friend…'_ Squall mused. It's like he knew exactly what Squall was thinking and could express everything for him. Squall was never good with expressing himself.

"Well if that's the case," a strong commanding voice from the head of the table announced. "Then let's see how much flow he has on the battlefield. It's obvious that Hume and my daughter both share the prince as a common goal, so why not a battle to the death for the title as princess or prince of Loire Kingdom," King Caraway proposed.

On the other hand Squall wished Laharl would keep his big trap shut sometimes.

King Laguna raised an eyebrow. "Well, now that would hardly be fair. The Hume has hardly any experience in battle as vampires of royalty do. And there's no comparison in natural strength. There's no competition in this competition," he explained.

King Caraway's war stricken eyes sparkled. That's exactly what he wanted to hear: Qualities of his precious daughter that would outbid Zell. "What's the matter, Laguna? Scared of a little friendly fight to the death? I see the Hume has contaminated all the demons of your palace with _feelings_," he hissed the last word as if they were venereal diseases.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" King Laguna asked with now piqued curiosity.

"Well, I understand your 'guest' has no real training but-"

"His name is Zell I believe. Right, Commander Laharl?"

Laharl nodded his head vigorously in spite of Rinoa's father.

King Caraway hid his slightness. "Ahem As I was saying. _Zell_ has no true training, but Prince Squall did say he wanted an "Ides of October Wedding". In three weeks time Zell should be caught up on the level of expertise as Rinoa if he trains every day until then. Of course there's no real comparison in natural strength, however, humans _are_ the biggest hunters of vampires. If you train him from now and then, there should be no problem. If Zell wins, the Prince and he will be married that day. However, if my daughter wins, she will be the princess of this palace and the wedding will be pushed into December. How does that sound?"

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose. The mouse had been caught. If he knew his irresponsible and gullible father well enough, then Laguna would fall right into the visiting King's trap of letting Zell and Rinoa fight. For the first time in his immortal life, Squall wished his father would make the right choice. It would definitely spare the brunet prince a headache or two over the following month.

King Laguna stood up and made direct eye contact with King Caraway, who had stood up as well. "General, you've got yourself a deal!" The two men shook on it and the deal was sealed.

Squall almost flipped on his side in annoyance. Kiros and Ward spared each other an "I can't believe our King is this retarded" look and hung their heads in pity. It didn't hurt to wish now did it? Laharl rolled his eyes, and then leaned in to whisper in Squall's ear. "If Zell loses, you lose more than just a wife, you know? You'll lose an heir."

Squall scowled at the laughing men at the head of the table then whispered back at Laharl in a definite tone. "I know that. That is why you and I aren't going to let him lose!"

TBC

**A/N: Okay. I'm going to stop there, because I'm sleepy as hell and this chapter is long as hell. It's 3 A.M. and I'm like finishing up the whole thing…All I need is to think of a name for the chapter…mmm How about…**

**I updated pretty quickly for such a longy if I do say so myself. Oh and may I take this time to recommend the movie Step Up 2? It's fuckin' amazing. Go and chex it out right now! Don't forget to review! Until next time where Zell starts his training!**


	17. Rinoa vs Zell pt 1

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Language, Rinoa Bashing, Violence, sex, lemons, deleted scenes, character death**

**A/N: Yay…college started…again…*sigh* Well at least there are cute boys to look at…By the way that's why I'm so late on the update, I've been studying.**

**Damn if this chapter ain't long! I got a lot of developing to do here. Time jumps are frequent in this chapter, because a lot of things happen here. Just follow any thing in bold and you'll be okay. And don't worry this won't be too frequent in the future, or at least I'll try not to make it frequent. That will just make the story confusing.**

**Songs used in this chapter: Forever by Chris Brown and I Got This Down by Simian Mobile Disco.**

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**

**Disclaimer: W00T! New disclaimer! I do not own any of the boys, places, or airships, or plot from any Final fantasy, although I will say that I and Zell do share Seifer…**

**Chapter 17: Rinoa vs. Zell**

Zell sat in his familiar room that he had long since deemed an insult to nature _and_ the animal kingdom on his bed and scowled at the wall. He didn't like being alone…it meant he had time to think because there wasn't really anything else to do around here in the kingdom. Now he saw why everyone was so strong around here…not many electronics.

The rebel didn't regret acting the way he did at dinner time. When it came to bitches, he had a zero tolerance level. Quistis and Selphie had made to make him that way. The irony was that Selphie was now a friend and Quistis wouldn't be tormenting anyone.

If Rinoa weren't the devil in skank form, Zell didn't know what she was. And how dare she consider Squall to be hers, when it was obvious to everyone how much he didn't even favor her. Zell wasn't claiming Squall as his, but he knew he wasn't hers. No matter how Squall had treated Zell in the past, or in the present (which was actually different, not better or worse, but different), Zell would still hate to see Squall wind up with her. Why did vampire culture have to be this fucked up anyway? He thought.

Rinoa seemed more suited to Seifer, Zell thought devilishly. He wondered what was happening to him and everyone else on the outside world. Irvine, Selphie, that girl who is always with Seifer. Would those two come looking for him, because Seifer was ever more persistent? Or would he call Zell a lost cause and give up on him, knowing what he didn't want to happen had happened already many times over. The blond blushed at that thought.

Zell was taken out of his thoughts when the doors to his room were opened and in stepped the Prince, dressed in his night clothes it seemed. Zell immediately tensed up in his presence. His new feelings were making him shy around Squall, even though the whole evening was all Squall's fault. Squall stared at the scowling blond for a while and approached him towards the bed. He sat down next to Zell on the mattress not even bothering to leave a space between them, but Zell managed to skimper a few centimeters away.

"How are your burns?" the Prince asked.

Zell kept his gaze focused on a portrait of the castle grounds and simply answered, "I'll live." Zell could feel Squall staring at him and the portrait was beginning to hurt his own eyes so he glanced at the floor.

"Look at me," Squall commanded.

Shit.

The blond did as he was told.

"I admire what you did tonight," the prince commented. "It showed…character."

Zell sighed and answered, "I was only doing what I felt."

Squall was silent for a while and then asked, "What do you feel right now?"

"Homesick, maybe?" _Tired, depressed, taken advantage of, in need of more pain medicine…where should I stop?' _Zell thought.

This was the first neutral conversation the two had ever had. It was going fine so far. At least there was no fighting…

"I honestly wish I could apologize for that. Unfortunately, I'm just not sorry."

Zell rolled his eyes. "I'm past the point of caring what you can, will and won't do, seeing as how it seems you do whatever the fuck you want anyway."

"Watch your mouth around me, Zell," the brunet warned in a cool yet dangerous tone. "And yes, I _will _proceed to do whatever I want, because I _am_ the prince, and if I want you to be the bed warmer for every soldier in this kingdom, you'll do it or face execution. And they will gladly thank me for something like that. Fine piece of ass you are after all. I know first hand." Zell remained silent as the man sitting shoulder to shoulder with him basked in his glory. What the hell was Zell thinking!? Fighting over a coldhearted asshole like the prince. Rinoa could have him if she wanted him that bad! He felt strong fingers run through his hair gently. "Don't worry. I would never do that to you."

Zell looked at Squall in curiosity. Squall wasn't entirely cruel, only as cruel as he needed to be. If that meant acting a certain way when in the company of others to uphold his reputation, Zell would have to understand. No matter how cold Squall treated Zell, he would never actually throw Zell to the wolves. There was another reason why Squall would never do that, but it was too ridiculous to actually admit. He didn't care about Zell's feelings…

Zell shivered from the demon's touch, making him run out of patience. "Didn't you come up here for something in specific? I already know what you want so why not just get it over with?" Zell asked in an annoyed fashion. Before he knew it, he was shoved on his side by his shoulder and climbed on top of.

Squall brought his face close to Zell's and nudged his erection against the inside of his thigh. "If you carry on telling me what to do, I'll have to stop pretending like I give a shit about your well being. Can't you see I'm trying to be that thing humans are to each other? _Nice," _Squall spat.

"You could never be close to what a human is, you devil!" the blond shot back.

Squall spread Zell's legs apart further as he jabbed his clothed hard-on into Zell's still sensitive cleft, making him wince audibly. The frustrated prince pinned his wrists next to his head and breathed into the back of his neck and ear furiously, "What makes you think I want to be anything like you?"

**Seifer**

The two travelers landed their smoking helicopter in the most even leveled field they could find. By the looks of things it didn't matter where they landed it, because their helicopter was probably going to explode soon, which meant Seifer and Irvine needed to evacuate as quickly as possible. As Irvine landed as safely as he could, Seifer grabbed everything that he thought would be important to them, like their weapons, ammunition, and that's about it…

They ran at top speed from the chopper anticipating its loud bang. When they had gotten a more than safe distance away, they heard a faint boom and saw black smoke float to the sky.

As they walked away from their flaming former helicopter, Irvine bitched and whined about how the blond demon forgot to grab the food. "If you had stopped to think, how _I'm_ supposed to survive out here in the middle of fucking nowhere, I wouldn't have to give this speech about using common sense now would I?"

Seifer's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "If you don't shut the fuck up soon, I'm going to stab you in the face," Seifer threatened. It wasn't Seifer's fault he had thought primarily for himself over the last few decades. He hadn't gotten used to thinking of Irvine's needs, because he never worked in partnerships. They went at it for hours. It was mostly a one sided bitch session on Irvine's part. Seifer didn't really have the mental capacity to argue for too long. He'd rather get frustrated and hit something, but taking note of his "partner's" physical prowess, he decided not to unless he wanted to really duel. And the only one he really wanted to duel right now was Fucking Squall. Fucking stuck-up princess. It was his fault he was walking in the fucking desert. And Irvine just kept bitching.

"Yer not gonna do nuthin'! You need _me_ to navigate us."

"I'm a vampire, I can follow my nose to the kingdom and walk if I have to, which'll take a week now with no helicopter. You were supposed to make sure we had proper fuel and backup fuel before we left…"

"I was lucky to even have gotten this helicopter. Now I'll probably never get to fly again after this, when the Commander finds out I overheated it."

"I told you to slow down for about two hours."

"That's beside the point."

Seifer sighed with great annoyance and kept moving forward. Eventually they found their way to a forest. Both boys agreed that through these woods would be the right way towards the Loire Kingdom. Then through some towns, over a few mountains and through a crater then they would have to rent another helicopter in Centra in order to even reach the Esthar nation. Esthar was a very secluded place. Now that they were on foot with no method of air travel the time needed to get to Esthar had just raised exponentially.

Both boys hadn't even the slightest thought of turning around or giving up, knowing the journey they had in front of them. Seifer had walked miles all his life and he could do it again. He was a rouge vampire after all. Traveling was his life…

As for Irvine, he _was_ a type of soldier after all. He could tolerate most things, all though his whining sometimes proved he couldn't. A few hours walking along the grassy peninsula with the sun beating down, forced the two men to take a break. Irvine's puny Hume body couldn't take the heat. Who told him to wear a fucking suede cowboy jacket every where he went? He must be baking. Seifer's trench coat actually kept him cool because it was white, which reflected heat, and also was made of a different type of material.

They squatted on the sea of grass that stretched for miles resting their legs. The sun had begun to come down. "We'll take a break here, get started in the morning," Irvine proposed.

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "There's really no time to rest…"

"…Well if we don't rest we won't be able to travel."

"Correction: _You_ won't be able to travel. I'm like a camel; I won't need rest until another 24 hours. Think you can keep up?"

Irvine examined his demonic side-kick. "Fine. I'll die keeping up with you then."

**Squall**

Zell felt his underwear being torn by sharp black claws. His lower half was naked in mere seconds. And to both boys' shock, Zell was hard. Zell was too busy burying his face in the pillow in shame to notice Squall's devious smirk.

"This time you'll come in front of me," Squall said.

The prince was out of his cotton pajama trousers in mere seconds. They had only made it to his strong ankles, he was too lazy and too horny to actually take them off all the way. Squall was already slick with precum like some horny predatory animal. He bit down on Zell's shoulder to keep him still as he positioned himself at Zell's entrance. His teeth were making Zell squeal like a pig. "What the hell are you doing? That fuckin' hurts! Stop it!" It kept Zell from moving however as Squall shoved his cock inside Zell's heat, making the blond scream even louder.

"How did you become so tight so quickly again?" Squall moaned, not even slightly regarding his prey's squealing protests. He really didn't care. All he cared about was being inside of Zell and never pulling out.

Before the prince began his thrusting, he wanted his prey to be positioned just right so it would make the sensation all the more worth while. He pulled Zell's unresisting hips upwards so that he was on only his knees and his supple ass was in the air. His upper body still lay on the mattress, but as long as the prince had Zell's ass in the air it would be easy for him to pound into him like he wanted to the first time, but couldn't because he didn't want to rip the hume. Zell is very delicate, Squall thought. But tonight was the night Zell had to get used to how rough Squall could be, and how much the dark vampire had been holding back the past few nights.

Squall got on his knees and released his mouth from Zell's shoulder and arched his back as he became used to the wet warm tightness. He gripped on to the blond's hips and used them ad a brace to pull out slightly and slam back in. Whenever Squall's thighs would smack Zell's cheeks a moan came from the Hume. He liked it when Squall went deep in him.

"You like that didn't you?" Squall asked curiously as he repeated the action again but slightly faster. Zell tried to be as unresponsive as possible. But tonight he didn't know what to expect, and he knew nothing was certain with Squall.

Zell relaxed with it. The pounding hurt, but it began to feel good as Squall breathed into his neck, and touched him, in sensitive spots, making him chill under the demon's touch. Zell moaned and tried to ignore the straining feeling his cock was giving him.

Squall became comfortable and began at a steady paced speed. Eventually he began enjoying himself and enjoyed himself more when he flung the annoying fabric of his pajamas off of his ankles and feet without removing himself from the panting flushed body underneath him. The demon had eventually noticed Zell's leaking organ. "Touch yourself for me. It'll feel even better," he husked into the blond's neck making him shudder.

Squall took his hot hands from Zell's now bruised hips down to his thighs and spread his legs more for better access to his pleasure hole. When he did so he noticed Zell's dripping liquids hitting the sheets Squall spread his own legs as well to fill in the space that Zell's legs had made, now filling him completely. Zell began to stroke his slicked cock to his own rhythm. It felt so good. Squall's hands stayed on the inside of Zell's thighs, claws digging painfully into Zell's skin, breaking it and drawing blood. Ten new holes were formed in Zell's body that night. And each one of them dripped cherry red blood down his legs and onto his own "once white" sheets. He winced in pain and felt the liquid run down his legs. Squall could see it, smell it and feel his blood underneath his own fingertips.

He was resisting all temptation to literally eat the Hume. Zell's blood and moaning were making his senses go crazy, along with the pleasure the boy's body was providing for him. "Zell, you're! I'm about to-I'm gonna-Uhn-" Squall's words were pointless right now. He couldn't convey his thoughts into words. The pleasure was so intense everything about Zell screamed sex. How had he stayed a virgin for this long!?

The scarred demon's point was made by pumping hot dark liquid into Zell and the flow never stopped until long after the black liquid had dripped down Zell's balls, ass and backs of his thighs. The cum dripped on the bed as well, resembling thick black ink in comparison with the red and white sheets. Red and black mixed together forming what looked to be a dark rose. It was pure art on the plain canvas. Squall's thick length pulsated for a while inside the young Hume. That plus the pleasures Zell was giving himself made him cum blindingly on the covers, moans and sounds coming out of his mouth that tasted like sweet candy to Squall.

Zell immediately passed out and fell forward. He wasn't the only one who had been tainted with "inks and paints". Blood had hit Squall's knee caps and his own black cum streamed down his legs and down his large nut sack. Although Squall was spent, his now black painted cock still pulsated and throbbed inside of Zell hot and hard, making Zell's soft snores have a hint of moaning in them. It appeared Zell's body enjoyed that pulsating feeling Squall was still giving him. Squall watched Zell's face in satisfaction as he slept. Zell was returning the favor as well by being so tight and constricting himself around Squall. He trapped Squall, lured him, and held him in place never to let go. Humes had many different forms of power it seemed.

Well hell, Squall thought. If the beautiful Hume's body begged for it even in his sleep, then Squall had no choice but to give his future wife exactly what he wanted. He grabbed Zell's ass and began thrusting into him again. He hadn't wanted to ever fuck Zell while he was unconscious, but as long as he was the only one allowed to do so, then so be it. Squall came again in a shorter period of time than the first time. This time cum would not even stay inside Zell. It just gushed out between his legs from his ass which was still in the air. Squall finally pulled out of the boy and did him a favor by lifting him so that his front wouldn't touch the mess that they both had made on his bed.

He'd get a slave to clean that up later, he thought. There was no way Zell could sleep here tonight. Bleeding and lying in cum. Squall would never leave him like that. And why was that? Some sort of compassion? No, Squall would never admit that. It was just a courtesy. Vampires had manners too, he supposed. In the past two nights, Zell had taken a great amount of cum. There could hardly be a doubt that the angel would be pregnant in no time, Squall thought devilishly as he held the flower in his arms down the hall and towards his bedroom.

**Zell**

Zell awoke feeling slight pain in his thighs. He sat up in the foreign feeling bed and threw the covers off of his lower body, revealing his naked frame with bandages on his thighs and scowled at his burns from the night before. The whole evening flooded back to him as it had been doing the past several nights. The taste of the dinner, the pain of hot scalding soup, to the conversation with the prince, and then the pleasure that ensued afterwards.

Zell shook those thoughts from his head and meditated with his head between his knees in the mystery bed. Did Squall have to be so fucking rough all the time? Zell grazed his fingers over the mark on his neck. Any deeper and Squall could've broken the skin on Zell's neck. He looked at the ceiling for an answer, maybe. A stained glass ceiling with an image of a black demon holding clubs with sharp claws on the end stared down at him. Aside from being demonic it held the charismatic appearance and posture that could have passed for an aristocrat in the 18th century. Zell wondered what it represented and what its purpose was.

"Don't suppose you can help me, can you?" Zell asked the image surrounded by a cloudy sky with sunlight beaming around him.

"He'd probably do so if he could," a familiar icy deep voice from the side answered him.

Zell's head whipped to the man standing in familiar pajama bottoms, with an overbearing metallic fiery blue stare and a scar on his forehead that showed years of battles experience. Zell covered himself back up with the sheet on the bed. Squall joined Zell's gaze upon the demonic creature above and continued to speak. "…then again, he'd probably watch you suffer in this so-called hell you've been placed in." Zell rolled his eyes, but nonetheless continued to listen. "His name is Veruna. And many years ago, he created the first vampiric laws. Today if he found that the situation you were in were unfair, he'd have you released. However, since you are here because of the rules that _he_ made in the past, you're not going anywhere. But I don't think I need to tell you that now do I?"

Zell took his glare from the Veruna and directed it at Squall who still observed his own ceiling. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't patronize me first thing in the morning. I'm here, you fucked me, and I can't go anywhere or do anything about it, what more do you want from me?"

Squall admired his captive. "Don't take that tone with me, I'll do whatever I please, Hume." Squall moved from beside the bed to put a shirt on. "Today you start training in combat."

"For what?"

Squall ignored Zell as if he hadn't spoken. "You'll find a new outfit for you to wear in the closet, and after you've had something to eat in the Great Hall, you need to report to Laharl in the arena. That's where you'll be trained."

Zell's eyes never left Squall's moving busy body. He assumed the prince had duties to attend to during the dayand found himself wondering what they were as he watched the demon put on his boots. Why did he never see Squall during the day? Why did Zell have to train while Squall did whatever he did without him!? Why was he so angry about this? "Did you have a question?" Squall asked, breaking Zell out of his inner tantrum.

Zell replied a short "nope" and requested that Squall leave so he could get changed. Squall looked as though he wanted to remind the younger boy of his place once more, but decided against it. It was too petty of an issue and he'd let it slide…just this once…

To Zell's relief Squall left without another word. Zell decided he'd walk around Squall's room with the sheet wrapped around him just incase the Prince decided to come back to his own room without knocking. Regardless of their sexual relations in the past two nights, Zell still felt vulnerable around the Prince, and wouldn't dare walk around him naked. That privilege would only be given to someone who had the title "boyfriend". After showering and getting dressed in another white one piece with a hood he headed down to breakfast. This time he was given light comfy shoes with his suit. He assumed this was because he would be participating in physical activity today. He dreaded the thought as he sipped on a glass of orange juice. He wasn't exactly the top student in P.A. And not only would he have to train physically, but do it under the authority of Laharl.

Zell remembered the first day of school when he had sat down in the veterinary building next to Laharl and partnered up with him. He had seemed like such a friend then, but was only using Zell so he could be led easier to Squall. The demon secretary deserved a punch in the face.

After he had a decent breakfast he headed slooowly to the arena. It wasn't hard to find. All he had to do were follow the suits of armor and swords on the wall. Coming in his opposite direction were exhausted looking men or men who glistened with sweat who must have just got finished with sparring. Everyone was all muscular and jockey. High school was back to him in a flash. He avoided eye contact with everyone and stepped onto the gravel ground of the arena.

Warriors sparred in various areas in the arena. The air smelled like smoke, sweat, and morning fog. The sun hadn't even been in the overly cloudy demon sky for a quarter of the morning yet. Zell scanned the area for Laharl. The freezing morning air was cruel against Zell's shoulders, making him hug himself for warmth. The arena looked like a big maze of an unfinished construction site. Squall had said meet Laharl in the Arena after breakfast, but the boy was no where to be found.

Zell wounded a corner into a quiet opening with grass and red circles on walls. They looked like targets. There was no one here so Zell decided he would leave and search another nook and cranny for the missing Secretary to the Prince.

_**QUIP!-((**_**Dong)**_**)!**_

__Zell jumped 10 feet when an arrow cut off his path and vibrated in the stone wall nearly two inches from his face. He turned around slowly to see Laharl standing on a small rooftop with a crossbow in hand. "Leaving so soon are we, little Hume?"

Zell glared up in his direction. "You could have shot the skin off my face!"

Laharl somersaulted off of the roof and landed with grace on the grass. "Don't sweat it," he said casually. "I'm a fucking mason with this thing," he explained as he displayed the wooden weapon with an arrow already loaded in its groove. "And besides, our first lesson is to be aware of our surroundings."

Zell was still flabbergasted from the violet haired demon's landing. Laharl wore his demon gear today. Fashioned perfectly for his body and looked light for toting a crossbow with his hair in a violet pony tail. "You look…cool," Zell complimented.

"Well, let's hope that in a few weeks you can look just as cool."

"For what?"

Laharl stared at Zell in disbelief. "You mean the Prince didn't tell you?"

"Tell me WHAT!?"

…**.hours later……**

"Are you foreal?" Comfort asked almost falling off of the bench she was sitting on.

"YES!" Zell was on the verge of tears. "They wanna see me die, they wanna see me die, they wanna see me die and I will! I just know it!"

Comfort jumped up from her seat, abandoning her sandwich and slapped the hysterical blond across the face. It had calmed Zell down enough for him to stop pacing and chanting. She held him in place by his collar and gave him the speech. "Listen. You gotta get it together. If you keep this up you'll never beat Rinoa. You have three weeks. THREE!" she shouted as she held three fingers in his face, blinding him because he was partially nearsighted.

"Okay I get it! Just lemme go!" he cried.

"Oh, sorry. But you were getting' crazy I had to do…somethin'."

Zell sighed and sat down in a flower bed. Comfort joined him. After a moment of silence Zell spoke. "The only way I'm going to win is by a miracle. And those haven't been too fond with me over the past few months. _Especially _the last few nights, know what I mean?"

Comfort gulped. "So how have evenings with the Prince been?"

Zell narrowed his eyes. "All he ever wants out of me is sex and a frown. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But he wants you to fight for him?"

"Well, yeah isn't that the way things go around he-"

"NO! Ya crazy white boy! This is completely breakin' tradition can'tcha see that?" she squealed.

Zell tilted his head to the side. "I don't really get-"

Comfort interrupted again, "For years, the prince of any vampire kingdom has always married the woman who the king arranges-which would be Squall's father-as you might have heard. 'Arranged marriages' is what they call them…

Zell nodded.

"Well, Squall was arranged with Rinoa obviously. But there's been rumors of the prince putting off his own wedding for longer than what he should've… nobody really knows why. And now all of a sudden you're here, and there's a battle for the throne being set up between a Hume and the neighboring princess? This'll sound fishy to a lot a people, but it can really only mean one thing to people who actually have a brain." Comfort finished that sentence by pointing two clear polished fingers at her own head.

Zell blinked having followed but not really eating every breadcrumb.

"Ah, you're such a blond," she cried grabbing her hair. The prince _LIKES._ YOU!"

Zell was silent for a moment then broke out in laughter. "You've got to be kidding me. That man HATES me! You should see the way he looks at me, the way he talks to me, the way he-" Zell almost became too detailed.

"Well it's definitely a little sumthin' sumthin' otherwise why would he even bother?. Trust me, Prince Squall is allowing the King to put you out there, because he's hoping that you'll win. Because no one really approves of you but if you can kill Rinoa, everybody will stop underestimating the power of us Humes, and you'll be recognized not only as a social symbol, but a political trump card as well with in the kingdom. Imagine proving the whole castle wrong about the opinion of what humans are. Zell, if you did this you'd be representing humans all over _and _the vampires who live here!"

A light flickered in Zell's eyes. Twice. Three times. _Bing! _The light bulb finally worked. "Oh I get it now! I have to win! Or else it'll embarrass Squall _and _everyone else who lives here _AND _humans if the person he chose for his wife loses." Comfort nodded her pretty glass blue eyes in warm agreement. Zell continued his thoughts. "But if I lose, then I won't have to spend the rest of my life here and Squall can marry…_her._" Again Comfort nodded. "And if I lose…" Zell's voice became quiet as he placed a hand over his stomach. "Then we'll both lose the-"

Comfort interrupted him a third time. "Don't even say it! You don't even know if there's a bun in the oven to lose yet!"

Zell sighed in relief. "You know what? You're right. There's nothing growing inside of me! I don't know why I ever believed that, even if he is a vampire."

Comfort scratched her temple and looked down at the grass. "Now I ain't say all dat," she mumbled under her breath.

……**..later that night……..**

Zell retreated to his room, tired from the training this morning. He couldn't wait to sink into his big bed and fall into a deep long undisturbed sleep. So much for that idea...

As soon as Zell was finally able to fall asleep in his still unfamiliar bed, he was woken with cold hands running down his legs with sharp black claws on the tips. The blond groaned in protest as Squall spread his legs apart while he lay on his side. He could feel his underwear being torn and something thick and hard being pressed against his cleft.

"Uh," Zell's eyes were all the way open now. "Stop it!" he snapped.

Squall's cock was thrust into Zell sideways making him scream out. Squall covered his mouth so he wouldn't scream and wake up everyone in the castle. He bit into his neck again so he wouldn't run away. He began to thrust in and out of Zell while the blond just tried to fall back asleep and ignore it. But he couldn't. God wanted him to suffer this nightmare with all five senses completely aware of everything. The pleasure and the pain kept him aware of everything that was happening to his body and Squall was to blame for that.

Squall's cold body could be heard above him grunting and thrusting with enthusiastic force.

……**the next morning…..**

Zell woke up again the next morning alone in a cold bed. Somewhere in the room there was an annoying buzzing sound keeping him from sleeping any longer. He didn't bother to slam his fist on the pillow because his whole body hurt. But he did manage to mutter "fuck" under his breath. He grabbed the damned alarm clock and threw it to the floor to shut it up. "Alright already I'm up!"

There was a note on his bedside table.

_Hey Hume,_

_Eat breakfast, and then meet me in the arena._

_Laharl_

Next thing you know, Zell found himself in the Great Hall eating breakfast. Whenever he ate, he never talked to anyone, he didn't look at anyone, and he left as soon as he was finished. He found Laharl in the same area of the arena as last time.

"No rouge arrow this time?" Zell greeted his teacher bitterly.

"My arrows are never rouge. I have complete awareness of my shots at all times. Now go ahead and get warmed up. Stretch and I want to see 10 laps around the field."

Zell's eyes widened in disbelief. "But I did that yesterday!" he whined in protest.

"You'll do it everyday until I say you don't need to do it anymore. And every time you whine, I'll add 3 more. So that's thirteen around the field."

Zell cursed under his breath and proceeded with his stretching warm-up and then his laps.

The whole week had gone like that, without much change. Zell would wake up, eat breakfast, train and then go chill with comfort in The Garden. Then before it got too late, Zell would go to his bed and wait for the inevitable. Squall always managed to slip in undetected…and after that time when Zell's blood had soiled his own bed and he had to sleep in Squall's, he never woke up to the Varuna again that week. He always woke up in his own room.

For the past week Zell had done nothing but run laps, more and more each day until finally he became comfortable with the routine and his new life. One day however, after practice when he went to see Comfort, he did something he shouldn't have.

"So my teacher was telling me how I was improving today, and he said next week that we'd be practicing hand-to-hand combat _and_ actual literature."

Comfort was examining some flowers next to some stones and smirked. "Did you know that lilacs represent innocence, first love, and friendship?"(1) She said dreamily. Zell rolled his eyes.

"Are you even listening to me?"

The dark haired girl got up on straight legs. "Yeah I heard ya. Sheesh can't I be profound for five seconds? Besides, I'd love to see you try to box someone. Just try not to break a nail," she teased.

Zell put his hands on his hips and stopped trying to balance on a ledge by the stream. "Excuse me? But how do you think I managed to out run vampires all this time? And last time I checked, I'm pretty good with a gun, not a crossbow."

"You haven't even picked up a crossbow yet, though."

"I know! And I don't wanna have to. But if I'm gonna survive I'll have to give my all. If that means using a weapon or my fists, then I'll do whatever it takes."

"I see you're finally looking on the bright-side of things aren't you?"

"Well I realized that I'm not going to be able to beat Rinoa with good dancing skills or anything."

Comfort laughed at the thought. "Imagine if this were a dance competition instead," she began hypothetically. "Think Rinoa has any moves?"

Zell gave a big "HA!" and said, "She'd probably fall on her flat ass trying to out do me." The pair came to a stop by the waterfall against the alcove and laughed.

"Don't you mean *Fall flat on her ass?"

Zell thought for a moment. "No I was right the first time." They both laughed again hard.

"Well if ya can beat me in a dance competition then I thinks you must be pretty damn good...not to sound cocky or anything, but umm I'm just that chick you don't wanna battle in the streets," comfort finished with a cocky shoulder brush.

Zell rolled his eyes and jumped down gracefully from the steps. "Well I may not have been raised in the streets, and I don't think you were either "Ms. Fedoke Kingdom", but I do know how to get down, ya feel me?" Zell used the last three words of his sentence to imitate comfort.

"Well let's go then, Balamb Boy. You dance as good as you talk?" Comfort turned on her stereo and an electronic beat by Simian Mobile Disco played.

_I got this down, right?_

_I got this song tight!_

_You got no place to hide!_

_All night!_

_I got this down right?_

Zell listened to the words and watched as Comfort popped and locked in a hip hop moved her ribcage and used her footwork to glide around Zell, taunting him and making him feel inferior. When she was done she finished with a female pelvic thrust. Wow, chicks could pelvic thrust too, he realized.

Zell wasn't shy to battle his pierced companion. His movements were fluid and accentuated his hips and chest. He performed spins and his legwork was beautiful, like an Egyptian. Comfort gawked. "Wow that was pretty good. I didn't no you could really dance….like a ballroom dancer no less…"

Zell shrugged. "Meh, it's a trick of the trade."

Comfort unsuccessfully tried to imitate him, making Zell laugh. "Well I tried," Comfort complained. In turn, Zell tried to make his feet glide like Comfort's. "Hmm, not bad," was her remark of approval.

They continued on like that all evening, later than they had ever stayed there. No one disturbed them, no one knew they existed in their secret haven: "The Garden:" A beautiful place where two Humes danced and became one with nature. They danced even as the sun went down, and even as the darkness overcame the kingdom. Until finally Comfort spoke. "Hey what time is it?" She asked out of breath.

Zell stopped rope spinning and looked at his watch. "Shit! It's almost ten! Oh man he's gonna kill me!"

Comfort looked at him guiltily. "Oops…"

"It's not your fault, Comfort. I'll see you tomorrow though. Peace!" Zell left with a smile and ran off towards the gates.

Comfort packed up her belongings and left as well.

**Squall**

The prince had finished checking the whole East side of the castle and was now back to standing in the middle of Zell's room where he had begun. Where the hell was that Hume? Squall couldn't smell his lilac scent anywhere except for on his belongings and in his shower. He punched the wall in frustration. Where the fuck was that boy?

He was answered with a slight creaking from the other room, followed by sneaky footsteps and the strong familiar scent of lilac. Ah…

Squall stood in the shadows of the room watching the messy blond Hume scramble about. Half taking off his clothes and drying the sweat that formed on his forehead. He watched the blond jump into his nightclothes ungracefully and run to his dresser to spray perfume on his body to get rid of the scents of flowers. Before he could pull his covers back, however.

"Ahem…"

Zell's head spun around and stared wide-eyed at the dark figure in the shadows of his room. He put a hand to his heart and told the demon breathlessly. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Squall strode towards him with rage in very few strides.

**!SMACK!**

Zell had been hit hard across the face with the open side of Squall's hand. "After I'm done with you you'll wish you had had a heart attack. Where. Were. You?"

Zell had seen the attack coming from across the room and mentally prepared himself for it, thus no tears this time. But it still hurt on the outside. He held one his face with both of his hands and answered with his eyes clenched. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I was only at the stables feeding the horses. I don't know where the time went." The tattooed boy lied.

**!SMACK!**

"Ouch!"

Another blow landed itself on the other side of Zell's face, this time hitting the side with the tattoo.

"Lie to me again, you little whore! I'll not repeat my question," Squall threatened.

Zell hadn't been ready for that one for sure! Now tears threatened to fall. He didn't want to tell Squall where he had been all day. Didn't want him to know about his and Comfort's hidden sanctuary. But it looked like Squall had searched for him everywhere today while Zell obliviously danced without a care in the world; he'd know if the Hume was lying. Squall watched Zell's expression seem to change as if he was saying farewell to something before he confessed.

"I was at "The Gardens".

It took a moment for the location to click in Squall's mind before he pursed his lips in disapproval. "No one has been there in centuries. It practically takes care of itself. Why on Earth would you be there all day?" Squall asked daring Zell to lie again.

For the sake of Zell's poor face, he didn't think he'd dare lie for the rest of forever, especially not to Squall. "I like to be around flowers…" he _half _lied. What? He never said he couldn't _half _lie!

Squall stared at him for a moment. "I don't feel as though you're quite telling the truth, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore because you are never to return to that place again."

Before Zell could put in a "but", Squall spoke again. "And before you protest remember that your mouth has been getting you in a lot of trouble lately. You are to be in this house by 6 o' clock every day, where you will be doubling up on training in the gym with Laharl as well as the arena in the mornings. He tells me you're improving at a fast rate. And besides, it's about time we turned you into a soldier fit for this kingdom. The next time I see you cry will I only be because I _make _you cry. Understand?"

"Yes, your highness," Zell said rapidly. Squall looked at him expectantly waiting for the formalities. It clicked in Zell's mind and he immediately bowed to Squall. Now, satisfied Squall made to leave the room, but before Zell's brain could stop his mouth he had spoke.

"The next time I cry, will only be because once again, you've managed to make a bigger asshole of yourself than what you normally are." Squall stopped immediately. The hand that had been on the handle slowly died and went back to his side. He kept his back still turned to Zell, waiting for him to finish.

Zell could have stopped there, and kept things from going from chaotic to apocalyptic, but dammit he'll say what had to be said. "I mean if you were any kind of decent ruler at all, let alone a decent man, you really wouldn't take that much pleasure in hitting me or making me cry. What's wrong? Trying to compensate for something?" Zell bated, prodding the lion further and further. Zell crossed his arms in front of himself and cocked his neck. He'd been taking Sass 101 from comfort. "I wonder what that could be. Maybe the lack of social skills and way you don't care about anyone or anything? Or maybe something more sensible. Silly me. It has to be your itty bitty peter pecker. Last night I thought I was gonna fall asleep, I could barely feel anything," Zell lied.

The last part was entirely false. Squall and Zell both knew that the prince was not by all means small. Every night, Squall made sure he cocked the boy well and more than decently, and for the past week Squall could tell without Zell even saying anything that he loved Squall's cock and expected it on a nightly basis. But in the heat of this particular moment however, the insult sounded clever and made Zell feel good. He wanted Squall to feel belittled now, like he made Zell feel all the time. This was a small fraction compared to how low the blond's spirits felt on a day to day basis.

Squall turned around and looked at Zell thoughtfully. This frightened Zell on the inside, but he kept his composure still on the outside, knowing he would probably die right here and now. He expected Squall to be enraged. Maybe even annoyed. But right now the stormy eyed prince looked like he was thinking of ways to punish Zell, or perhaps a way to thank Zell for being somewhat honest.

What Squall had grown to like about this kid was his spunk. Did Zell talk too much. No, he didn't talk too much. He spoke his mind! His mind just ran a million miles a minute however and he was the only one to talk to Squall in that way….ever. Although he almost cracked up at the irony of that last part of Zell's outburst, he kept his knightly composure as the scared witless Hume seemed to be doing. Squall made the space between them smaller and smaller once again that night and stood over the petite blond. The vampire stared into those blue sea orbs and almost drowned into their lure. To his disappointment, Zell scowled and looked away from the demon's gaze defiantly. Squall grabbed the boy's chin and forced him to make eye contact again.

The gunblader's face became very relaxed and for the second time that Zell had been living at this castle or even knowing the demon for that matter, he leaned down and kissed the shorter boy passionately. Zell didn't move for a moment. Shocked probably, but surely expecting a different form of punishment.

**Zell**

Zell relaxed into the kiss finally. All those times he had made out with Irvine, had almost come close to sleeping with the gunslinger, had paid off. Thanks to Irvine, he knew how to kiss the demon's cold lips. Both boys' emotions were pouring into one another's mouths as they roamed their tongues over one another's. Zell had never been kissed like this by Squall and it felt so foreign yet so good. So much more accepting than how the vampire usually was. Squall tugged Zell's body closer to his own, feeling the human warmth radiate onto his own pale cold skin through his night clothes. He caressed Zell's perfect round ass and massaged his hips as well. The blond shivered and his legs almost buckled underneath him from the demon's touch. So he grabbed onto the taller boy's shoulders for support.

It felt good for Squall as well. He never kissed anyone really…except his candidates for marriage and as a dinner formality for important dinner guests. But none of them had ever compared to the way he was kissing Zell now. All the feelings he had been trying to deny had been slowly escaping with each night of passion. But every night the past week had all lacked _this_. This was what Squall needed to not get frustrated, and maybe this is what Zell needed from Squall in order to give respect. Human compassion.

No matter how strongly Squall's denial of it was, he knew he had that particular warmth in him. How? He didn't know. He was a vampire after all, and he knew he shouldn't have been having these types of feelings ever since he saw Zell in the Owler Inn, trotting along as if the bellhop that he once was had been invisible. Feelings of insecurity were what made him so controlling of his prey and maybe even a sulky asshole at times. No amount of shielding had prepared Squall for the feeling of wanting someone to protect, and love.

The passion of the kiss had reached its peak when Squall became so content that one of his fangs erected and nipped Zell on his bottom lip. The Hume yelped and stepped back holding his mouth. It was just a minor flesh wound, nothing a little sucking couldn't take care of. Zell did exactly that and the sight of the Hume with blood on his tongue turned Squall on intensely. But the cut in general reminded Squall of his place. Not only in his society, but human society as well. There was a reason Zell had just gotten cut. It was a warning that symbolized danger.

If the two were to continue with this, it would indeed be dangerous. Squall was not meant to love. No matter how right it felt. The vampire backed away slowly from Zell, almost reluctantly. He touched the brass door handle once more that night, but before he turned it, he looked back and said to Zell very seriously. "You weren't wrong about just that one thing, by the way. I happen to care about other things as well…many other things, Zell. You being one of them, believe it or not." Zell stared openly at Squall from his position in the middle of the room, still flustered and red from passion. The blond was so confused right now. "I stick by what I said about your new curfew and extended training. One day, perhaps after you've had the baby, you'll realize that I really do care about you, and punish you because you make me care ….goodnight."

Before Zell knew it, the man who he harbored mixed and overbearing feelings for was gone. Zell fell back on the bed and stared at his beautiful white ceiling. So he really did have a baby inside of him? It didn't feel like it. Not yet anyway, so unless Zell started seeing some proof, he wouldn't believe it. What did all this mean? What would happen if Zell were actually in a relationship with Squall? He rolled over on his stomach and closed his eyes in aggravation. They always say how teenage years are the most confusing ones.

**Irvine**

The two travelers had been going the wrong way for almost a week now. They had realized this fact when they were walking and hadn't encountered any desert land. If they were truly going the right direction they would've seen some by now. Now it would take even longer to get back on even the most remote trail back to Esthar. "This is all your fault!" Seifer complained, now feeling it was time he did some of the bitching.

"My fault? Mr. ''I'm a vampire, I can follow my nose to the kingdom!'"

"Ever heard of slight margin of error?"

Irvine cocked a brow. "Ever heard of: Full-of-shit?"

They bickered until they made their way into what looked like a small town. Irvine read the sign. "Moontown Welcomes You."

"Why don't we just camp here for tonight in the Inn," the cowboy proposed.

Seifer's mind went straight to the pain in his feet. The walk had actually had an effect on him. "Fine, but as soon as the sun comes up, we're leaving!" the vampire ordered.

"Fine."

"I mean it, no fucking oversleeping or I'm leavin' your ass," the cranky demon threatened as he stalked off.

They checked in, and Seifer fell asleep as soon as his head hit the sheets. The cowboy watched the demon sleep peacefully in the sheets. _"Demon my ass,' _the cowboy thought. _'The undead needed sleep just like everyone else…' _Irvine wasn't really sleepy, he was just exhausted. A good lie back in the tavern with a good drink would do him good. After a good wash-up in the shower, that's where he was headed.

Moontavern was the name of the bar. Was this town big on the moon or something? He wondered. Moon tavern was just your typical smoke joint/hole in the wall. The place had more cigarette smoke than actual oxygen, men drank bear and belched sitting back playing cards with their flies unzipped and half the broads here were hideous to look at…Perfect. Temptation was not something Irvine wanted to distract him.

Irvine smiled giddily as he walked right to the bar. No one could bother him and no cutie (male or female) would dare distract him from his mission. After he ordered his drink, he had another, and another. He could stomach cheap watery beer pretty well and not to mention he liked the taste of it. The auburn haired man was responsible enough to stay away from hard liquor and wine. He knew he wouldn't be able to last a few hours tomorrow if he got pissed like he really wanted to.

"Hey, babe." Irvine turned around to meet a short haired, petite blond. The second thing he looked at aside from her hair, and height, was her chest and curves. This girl was definitely all woman.

"Hey," he replied back with a grin.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Irvine gestured lazily to the stool next to him. She sat down making sure to keep her thighs pressed together, so her short skirt didn't reveal anything.

"I've been watching you, you know," she said batting her eyelashes. "You're not from around here are you?"

Irvine finished his current bottle and engaged in conversation with her. She did most of the talking, and he didn't really have to work much charm, since she was the one who was coming on to him. When he had told her he'd be leaving bright and early the next morning, the small talk came to an end.

"Awww, what a bummer! You just got here. You're gonna go back to your girlfriend and forget all about me aren't ya?" she whined.

Irvine laughed. "If I had a girlfriend, do you think I'd be sitting in a pub with a bunch of smoking old men?"

"Really?" the girl asked slyly. "Well then since you're only here until tomorrow and I'll be at home all by myself tonight, why not come over. I'll show you a really good time. Best view in Moontown."

The girl's words went straight to Irvine's groin. He gulped and said, "Sure." So much for staying focused…

…**.several minutes later………………………………………………………………………………………………..**

Irvine had known something was off with that girl. She was too eager. That's what it had been. Too determined to get Irvine in bed, and now he was paying for the consequence, by standing in a pool of the girl's blood. She was a werewolf and had tried to attack him. Her limbs were sprawled on the linoleum floor with her canine face blown off . The only way to recognize the beast was if you saw the speckles of blonde underneath her now red hair. Apparently the cowboy had a thing for little short haired blondes.

The night had went from uneventful to loco. The girl had been aggressive, using her mouth for most of the foreplay. Good thing it hadn't gone too far, the battle between he and her was mainly Irvine trying to compromise that he didn't want to kill her. She underestimated the Hume of course, not knowing where he hid his rifle or that he was trained to kill the wretched likes of her. The result laid her of the floor of her own kitchen.

He stood in her kitchen with every light off in the house. He could barely make out her dead body underneath him in her baby blue lingerie. She really had been beautiful until she unleashed her dog face. If there was one thing Irvine had learned while studying vampires and from fighting them when they came to Galbadia, it was that werewolves never worked alone.

Other "townspeople" were in on this. They knew…(Irvine had forgotten her name)…had plotted to eat him, and she probably told others to come so they could have themselves a feast. This had to be a werewolf town. They NEVER live alone.

And almost as if on cue…

**!KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!**

"Scarlett! Open up! We're hungry!" A burly voice sounded from the front of the house. Good thing Irvine was in the kitchen where the back door was. He didn't want to be seen or have to kill anymore than he already had, but wouldn't hesitate if he had to. He squeezed his rifle when he realized he left his jacket upstairs in Blondie's room.

**!Knock Knock Knock!**

"Hey! Quit hoggin' all the meat," a lighter mousier voice whined. Irvine cursed under his breath and quietly ran upstairs, back to her room to get his jacket. He had to hurry. Pretty soon the people at the door would force their way in if they suspected something was wrong. Irvine could hear more pounding at the door, sounding more and more faded as he traveled further down the upstairs hallway.

He grabbed his coat and threw on his belongings and dared not go back downstairs. He heard the front door give way and a multitude of foot steps enter the house. His mind instinctively searched for a different escape route. The bathroom window! He thought with a jerk of his auburn eyebrows.

He left his snake skin boots off and headed for the bathroom around the corner from Blondie's room. He tip toed barefoot successfully without making a sound onto the tile floor and stepped into the tub, strong naked feet freezing from the cold porceline. This just kept getting easier, he thought as he heard commotion from downstairs. Surely the body had been discovered and the monsters were in a frenzy, probably already on search for the Hume who had killed their sister.

He hoisted his leg up onto the ledge of the already open window. He kept quiet as he crawled through the green curtains that flowed with the breeze of the October night. There he lurched like a gargoyle outside the ledge of the house that over looked no buildings in particular. He knew the house he was in was close to not only the tavern but the hotel as well. This was a very convenient small town, because everything was so close to itself.

Barefoot and feet freezing, Irvine jumped onto the true roof of the little house and looked for a way down. He had to get Seifer and get the hell outta here.

**Seifer**

The vampire almost bit at whatever's cold hands dared touch his shoulder. Seifer slept in only a black wife-beater and grey lounge trousers. "This better be fuckin' good or your ass is grass," the demon threatened groggily.

"We gotta get outta this town," Irvine explained while packing up his things and even some of Seifer's stuff, not caring about the fit he would hear if Seifer saw him touching his stuff. "This is a werewolf town, and I don't know about you, but I don't wanna get eaten." Seifer stared at the slightly panicked Hume through sleep clouded eyes for a while and then began laughing obnoxiously. Irvine stopped flailing clothes and raised an eyebrow at the vampire. "What?"

"Please…are you forgetting who you've been traveling with? I eat werewolves for breakfast. Now let me go back to sleep," the blond said pulling the covers over himself and burying himself into the mattress. There was silence for a while. Seifer knew Irvine hadn't moved from his position on the floor and was still being eyeballed and glared at from the cowboy's position. "What?" the vampire asked frustrated.

"What if I did something to upset them and they know where we're staying?" he asked tauntingly.

The man slowly sat up in bed and made up his mind in under 2 seconds. "Well what the hell are you waiting for? Pack my shit up and let's go," he commanded throwing off the covers and not bothering to make up the bed.

…**3 Days later…………………………………… ……………………………………………………….**

**Laharl**

Laharl watched in interest as Zell defeated his 4th drone for the evening. He was excelling in hand to hand combat. For the past three days, Laharl had been drilling Zell harder and hour every hour, trying to cram in all the basics and fundamentals in the little time that they had. They basically had a little less than two weeks left and Laharl felt that if they kept going this rate Zell just might stand a chance.

Laharl laughed when Zell was put into a choke hold by one of the tin drones. The Hume struggled for a moment, but instinct finally kicked in and he stepped on the robot's foot. His neck was released and he socked the piece of metal in its jaw sending it flying on its back and hitting the cement with a clank. Zell didn't hesitate to pick up speed in a sprint towards the droid and stomp its head into the ground as he ran over the artificial body.

The blue light faded out in the center of the droid's chest indicating that the match was over. Laharl applauded the Hume. "Not bad. You're improving more and more each day. Tomorrow we'll start battling multiple enemies at once. If time permits we'll start crossbow training maybe the day after tomorrow. I'll be teaching you two things at once, but don't worry: Hand to hand and crossbow offense have nothing to do with each other so you won't mix the two and get confused" Laharl explained.

Zell had remained silent the whole time, catching his breath while trying to stand as straight as possible. He liked venting his emotions on those stupid fucking androids, Laharl could clearly see that. Laharl also knew what was stressing the Hume out these past three days. Not once had Squall and Zell spoken to each other. Laharl had been spending most of his days with Zell ever since his double classes and only a third of his day with Squall.

Being with the two men at different times of the day gave a good opportunity for speculation. They both seemed stressed, distracted and annoyed about something. Laharl had known Squall almost his whole life and knew something was bothering him. Laharl didn't know why they were upset with each other, but he hoped they got whatever it was sorted out. At dinner and in the hallways, Laharl saw how both of them (especially Zell which was totally disrespectful) avoided each other's eye contact.

It was okay for Squall to ignore Zell. But for the Hume to not bow when he was graced with royalty's presence was questionable in this culture. However Zell always addressed Laharl and any one else with the proper greeting, he willingly did not to so for the Prince. What made things even more unusual, is that Squall was allowing such disrespect. Not once did he reprimand Zell for this.

Laharl had also determined that they weren't having sex either. If they were then Squall's attitude would be better. But lately, all he ever did was scowl (more than usual). Similar to the way he scowled before he ever met Zell. Something was totally wrong.

The blond Hume was beat and only had the strength to listen. Not to mention he was hungry. "All right then, looks like you understand," Laharl let his hair down, signifying training was to come to an end. "Run five laps and then get washed up. Loire kingdom is throwing a festival tonight, which is mandatory. Especially for you since you live in the castle. It's not as formal as when we had guests, so feel free to wear whatever."

Zell's jaw dropped. Five laps!?

Laharl laughed on the inside at the pathetic Hume. Often during practice Laharl could smell the salt on his tears before they even came out. Laharl's expression turned thoughtful as he watched Zell do his laps with a grudging drag. There had to be some way to get Squall to jump off his high horse and talk to Zell, or vice versa. It would have to be the first option. Laharl knew Squall better than he knew Zell and it would be easier to find things out through the Prince.

…**..Later That Night…..**

Laharl finished putting on his converse jacket for the chilly night that he knew would come tonight. Hey it was October. The nights were surely getting colder. After he decided he looked presentable enough, he looked over at Squall. The Prince was sulking/waiting for Laharl to finish getting dressed so they could go to the Festival together. He refused to go with his best friend looking like shit.

"Hey, Squall. What's bothering you?" The violet haired instructor pressed.

"..Nothing…"

"…"

"…"

"You realize that everyone who knows you knows when you lie right?"

Squall stood up and pulled his short locks in frustration. "I just can't fuckin' get through to this kid."

Laharl watched the Man stalk back and forth in his room for a while before asking, "You mean Zell?"

Squall sat back down and rested his forehead in his hands.

"What exactly is the problem?"

Squall looked at Laharl for a moment, trying to decide whether he should tell his friend what he really wanted to tell him. A vampire explaining to his best friend that he might have feelings of affection for a Hume was like when a Hume told _his _Hume best friend that he was gay.

"Okay I'm about to tell you something, but you can't tell anybody! You are sworn to secrecy and telling anyone will be an act of treason," Squall affirmed that his friend wouldn't tell anyone with threats.

Laharl rolled his eyes after pretend fixed his collar. "I swear on my Secretary's Badge."

"Okay, then here it goes." Squall stood up. "I want him."

Laharl turned around to look at his friend. "Umm hello?"

"Not just in that way, though and you know what I'm trying to say. Stop making this hard!" It _was _difficult for the brunet to get his feelings out most of the time. He was confiding in his best friend right now so that helped, but Laharl being dense really didn't help the situation.

"The other night…we kissed. Like humans do in the movies. Like lovers," Squall explained. Laharl remained silent and listened like a best friend should, although he wasn't exactly hearing what he wanted to hear, he continued to listen. "And not only did he enjoy it, but I did too. Why does our culture talk about how wrong it is for us to show affection like humans do, when it feels so damn GOOD?!"

Laharl had never seen Squall explain anything so enthusiastically before. "I like him a lot. I always have. More than his quality for a suitable mate, I want my heirs to be passionate like he is as well. I want Zell to help me raise those children." Laharl's insides were bursting at this news. "These past few days have been so confusing. I can't touch him because it'll only make my feelings for him stronger. But the more I ignore him, and the more I'm away from him makes me want him all the same. And when he ignores me, oh how I hate when he does not acknowledge me! I won't stand for it!" Squall was a fuming wreck.

Finally Laharl spoke. "Well, I don't know why they say loving is bad for vampires, but I do know that it's bad for a Prince." Squall eyed him questioningly. "Look at yourself Squall. Do you think the vampires of this Kingdom will want a demon who is acting the way you are right now, to continue ruling the nation? No. I'm your best friend, and I will do anything to support your decisions in the hand of the Kingdom. But I'm also your secretary. I can't allow further misconduct, I'll have to report to the King if this gets out of hand."

Squall had seen this coming. Of course, no vampire was really 100 % trustworthy. Laharl wasn't finished. "However, you're a wreck. So with all do respect your highness: Fuck the job. I won't tell a soul! Do what you have to do to be inspired to rule the nation." Squall gave a small smile. He hadn't smiled in three days. And ever since he met Zell he had been smiling somewhat. Maybe not smiles, but ghosts of smiles. "Now why do you think, he's not talking to you?" Laharl quizzed.

Squall just shrugged.

Laharl sighed. His friend really was a hopeless droid. "He's not talking to you because he thinks you hate him. He doesn't respect you because you treat him like a mule, when in reality you care about him and don't even show it. Most people don't call a search team for someone who's missing for only three hours."

Squall blushed. "I was worried."

"That's exactly my point. And when you found him what did you do? Hit him?" Laharl already knew the answer. He wasn't finished making his point. "Of course you did. Because you're Squall, you have an image to uphold and your word must be obeyed. But you know, you can ease up on him a little. You'll be married in a few days if he survives the fight with Rinoa and he will then have almost the same legal rights you do. By the way, he's excelling a lot faster than I anticipated. He has a fighter in him."

Squall mused on his friend's word. "Another quality of beauty, then." The room became silent as Squall made up his mind. "Okay, so I should respect him more, treat him as equal and be less harsh, show that I care, right?"

"Yes, and consider his feelings. We don't have those, so think of it as taking care of a person with special needs, I guess…"

Squall frowned at the thought of one of the many possibilities. "What if he doesn't like me back? What could he possibly want from a demon who has taken all of his rights, raped him multiple times in one night, and abused him?"

"I'm making him strong. He'll get over it, forgive you and learn that's what happens to humans around here sometimes when they don't just cooperate. He seems well adjusted anyway, although he did ask me about hot dogs the other day. I don't even know what those are..." the violet haired secretary said scratching his temple in thought. What could a hot dog be?

Squall got up and put on his leather jacket over his sleeveless shirt and sighed at the difficulty of this mission. "I don't know where to start."

"Why not start tonight. I know for a fact he doesn't have a date to the festival. Not to mention you're looking pretty sharp tonight." Laharl examined his friend in his casual wear. He didn't look like a Prince, but his gothic strength shown through beauty sure commanded respect.

**Zell**

Zell walked toward the Great Hall in his new comfortable clothes. Now this was more like home, he thought. He wore snug fitting jeans and a thin crust blue jacket that would have met Comfort's approval. Speaking of which, he wondered if he would see her tonight. He opened the doors and was shocked to find no one was there. The Hall was completely deserted. It was so quiet he could hear voices outside. Wait…voices outside lots of them. Was the festival outside in the courtyard?

He walked out to the courtyard and was met with masses of people. All conjugating outdoors. The first thing Zell thought when he looked around was 'Fun'. He had never seen the castle like this before. Everyone looked like they were having a good time. Hot plates of food were served from the counter tops, people danced to old vampire folk music in circles, and camped on picnic blankets watching fireworks.

The two children Zell saw the first day he ever went outside of this castle were running around again. This time the girl was playing keep away with a sparkler instead of a balloon. Zell smirked at the scene. Now where was anyone he knew?

"Zell!""

Zell turned to see a dark skinned girl with hair as black as night and eyes as shiny as glass. "Comfort!" he cheered.

They hugged and then broke apart. Then, Comfort frowned at Zell. "You haven't been comin' to the spot!"

Zell sighed. "That last night we danced was my last time there. The prince was furious. By the way, you're hot."

Comfort looked amazing. She was wearing jeans with rips designed on the knees and on the thighs. Her hair was down and wavy, like a black ocean. An eyebrow piercing was inserted above her left eyebrow that Zell had never noticed before. This girl had an amazing stomach that screamed "Holy abs" She wore a black street tank underneath a race car jacket that matched her graffiti shoes. The girl had style.

"Awww," Comfort sympathized.

"He says I can never go back there."

"Damn, that's messed up. Well forget that for now. You got somewhere you need to be?"

"I don't think so, I wasn't told to make an appearance or anything."

"Well then you're at the right place! This is the Blood Festival Dinner. Vampires hold it the first of every October."

"Everyone looks so laid back," Zell observed.

"It's basically just one big party. Think of a Mexican festival except better!" She exclaimed. Zell nodded slowly and got excited. "There are rides, candies, games, food, and you wanna know the best part of all!?" She asked in suspense.

"What?"

"DANCING!" Comfort grabbed Zell by the wrist and dragged him towards the stage.

"Where are we going?" Zell asked as he successfully kept up with Comfort.

"You'll see," she responded devilishly.

**Squall**

Was bored…He looked around at all of the people who made his father's kingdom's population and grimaced on the inside. He hated celebrations and occasions like this. When they were held in the Royal Court like this, it meant he had no choice but to make an appearance. He didn't usually smile at people unless he had to. As he walked around observing food stands and people getting off of rides, he heard a loud thumping coming from not too far away.

_1 2 3 4_

Hey, Hey, Forever  
Hey, Hey, Forever

It's you and me  
Movin` at the speed of light  
Into eternity,

Across from the Ferris Wheel, Squall could see a huge stage lit up with purple lasers and pounding techno music from the expensive speakers.

_Tonight is the night  
To join me in the middle of ecstasy  
Feel the melody and the rhythm  
Of the music around you _

The audience was screaming in glee. He frowned in that direction. What was so special, people were bouncing up and down for? Whatever it was it must have been good. The crowd was jumping so high and was so big that Squall wouldn't have been able to see the stage unless he got closer. He stepped forward with the notion that if anything were inappropriate on stage, he'd call an end to this particular event. He didn't remember Laharl setting this up like he did everything else.

_It's like I waited my whole life (oh)  
For this one night (one night)  
It's gon be me you and the dance floor (dance floor)  
Cuz we only got one night (one night)  
_

Preparing his eardrums for the madness he got closer and was finally able to see the stage better. He had to squint to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Two Humes on stage, radiating adrenaline, bouncing around to the rhythm, gliding across the floor in style that Squall had never seen before in his whole long life.

_Double your pleasure  
Double your fun (yeah)  
And dance forever ever ever  
Forever ever ever  
Forever ever ever_

The muscles in his jaw clenched when his gaze narrowed on Zell after he did a worm-like motion on his back, and the Black Hume ice-skated on the tips of her sneakers in the same direction as him.

_All you gotta do is watch me  
Look what I can do with my feet  
Baby feel the beat in time  
I'm driving, you can take the front seat  
Just need you to trust me_

Zell hoped up and ran to the end of the stage waving his hands to the beat, playing the crowd. Squall was confused. He didn't know Zell (or any Humes for that matter) had such talent. The passion that they both showed was contagious with the audience. The performance lasted about two more minutes. The ending to their routine was amazing and showed Zell's strength in his thighs as he Russian crawled to the front of the stage with his female partner doing the same thing next to them. Both with smile on their faces like they didn't feel any source of pain.

_I won't let you fall  
Let you fall  
Let you fall_

_Ohhhhhh_

Squall watched Zell do chest pops as the girl dancer used her finger tips to make it look like she had powers were controlling his movements. Zell flexed his back all the way parallel like a table and as soon as it looked like he would fall and hurt himself (much to Squall's concern) his partner caught him and they held each other in their arms as the music faded out. Squall felt himself relax. He didn't notice he was in awe the whole time Zell danced. And when the blond looked like he was going to fall towards the end, Squall knew that if the girl dancing with him hadn't caught him, she would be in a lot of trouble.

The pair on stage smiled at each other and bowed to the vampire community, who were cheering and throwing vampire lace on the stage at their feet. They bowed again this time holding hands, and ran off stage laughing. Squall followed in the direction of the back of the stage where he knew Zell would be emerging from.

**Comfort**

The two Humes had given each other some friendly dap. Complimenting each other and giving props where they were needed to each other. "Comfort, you killed it out there," Zell exclaimed.

"Naw, dude. YOU killed it!. Doin' the worm on ya back like you some kind o' sick!" Comfort messed up Zell's hair. They continued to clown around until Comfort became stiff as she addressed a figure that had came up behind Zell.

Zell's lips quivered in confusion. "What?" he turned around and was shocked by a terrifying symbol of power in this country. With a scar running down his forehead between cloudy eyes that seemed to be able to see every inch of Zell, even with his clothes _on_. The tattooed Hume quivered in response to the close contact and gaze and still did not address the Prince but bowing.

Squall eyed the Hume girl briefly and noticed she smelled of bluebonnet. The only thing that looked intimidating about her was her skin, which was a beautiful Texas Chocolate. And her hair was darker than any night had ever seen. What made her beautiful was her shiny blue eyes that glossed against her eyebrow piercing. He wasn't a big fan of piercings, especially on his prey, but it suited her well.

He shifted his gaze from her to Zell then back at her and cleared his throat. Comfort watched Zell's reactions. "I caught that number out there," Squall announced. "You two did a very good job."

Comfort curtsied and gave her sincerest thanks. Zell smiled an obviously fake smile and waited for the Prince to say anything else he had to say or just LEAVE.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

"Yes, very much your highness. This is my first Blood Festival and it's spectacular." Zell looked at Comfort as if she had grown a leg out of her hip to dance with. When the hell had she learned to speak like some preppy white chick? He wondered. He'd have to talk to her about this layta.

"I'm pleased. May I borrow, your friend for a portion of the evening? I promise I'll return him unscathed," Squall requested handsomely.

Who the hell is this guy? Zell thought to himself obnoxiously. Not only was Squall's acting attractive, but he had dressed sexy tonight as well. He looked like a low-key player, with his black satin shirt undone at the top, showing off his toned chest and his pants that made Zell slobber at the sight of Squall's package.

"I'd be honored," she replied. Squall took her hand and kissed it, making the dark girl blush.

Was it just Comfort, or was the prince actually being charming. He was nothing like Zell had described. She'd have to talk to him about this layta.

**Zell**

Zell tried to keep his attitude in check as he walked with the prince. He didn't want to be around this man. He didn't trust Squall anymore than he trusted himself to be around Squall. Why the hell had the demon sought him out? And why were the gods so cruel, that Squall had to see him dance, see what friends he hung out with, and when he spoke to her, put his charm on her to make her think he was some sort of fucking hero.

"Babe?"

Zell stopped his mental ranting and looked up at Squall. They had stopped at a candy booth. And the fact that Squall had just called him "babe" made his dormant anger kick in. Who the hell did he think he was? King Tut or some shit?

"Don't call me babe," the blond snapped crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm not your babe anymore than you're Laharl's bitch."

Squall was taken aback by the dancer's attitude. "I suppose you'd be right," he answered calmly. "However I was only asking if you wanted a babe. They're very sweet and have milk and honey in the middle."

"Huh?" Squall pointed to the counter and Zell read the candy sign. "BABES! ONLY A BUCK!, FREE FOR THE ROYAL BLOOD!"

Zell's eyes hollowed. "Oh, sorry. Yes I'd like one," he replied, cheeks turning red.

Squall laughed at the teen. "It's okay. One please," he said to the oversized vampire selling candy.

Well that went well, Zell thought angrily as the two walked together in the midst of the crowds of people. What was up with Squall's attitude? He was never this outgoing, especially to the point where he would want to be around other people.

Zell sucked on his babe. It was so sweet in the middle, yet sour like cranberry on the outside. He didn't know vampires ate stuff like this. He thought they ate blood strictly but he never ceased to get surprised around here. He was lost in his thoughts and the deliciousness of the candy fruit, when Squall put his arm around him as they walked.

Zell was too distracted by the goodness of his snack to tense up, but when realization caught up with him, he did raise an eyebrow showing he was even further puzzled by the taller man's actions. The prince seemed to be crossing a lot of his own boundaries tonight, but Zell couldn't deny, as he went back to chomping on his snack, that he felt safe when Squall touched him.

His scent was comforting and the demon seemed to be emitting an aura of protectiveness around the both of them. Zell could've imagined it, but when they were like this it seemed as though everyone walking made a path for them to walk and then took advantage of the space again as soonas be came available.

Zell had almost finished with his snack and was licking his fingers, not noticing Squall leading the both of them away to a secluded area. When Zell noticed, they had made it all the way to where the ground turned into concrete: The Arena.

He looked around at the stone walls and the empty space that was usually being fought in during the day. It looked different at night. Like a city where creatures slept in the walls. The faint voices of the entire kingdom could be heard muffled outside the arena walls. So if noise were on the inside, then sound would probably get muffled on the outside as well. Zell's usual wandering attention focused back on the situation. "Why are we here?" he asked as the prince led them to an archway that led to a balcony.

Squall walked to the rail of the balcony leaving an observant Zell at the entrance of the balcony. Zell looked around. The balcony was wide, with two buildings of concrete holding it up. It was hard to see anything, dark sky looming over the whole continent, with hardly any stars. You'd think there would be stars out in the country side, but no…it was vast and promising certain darkness, like Zell's future. "This is where I come to think," Squall answered with his back still turned to Zell, hanging over the railing and watching the ocean's tide on the shore below them.

"Oh," Zell answered stupidly, still looking around slightly uneasy at the silence.

Zell took a few steps forward until he stopped next to Squall and looked out at the view as well. The ocean sung its song underneath them, the sky was silent and stalking above them. And beyond them, were lights, dancing, and music coming from the blood festival. Both boys watched whatever they pleased in silence until Squall broke it once again in the same night.

"So Laharl tells me you've been exceeding in combat training," the dark vampire commented.

"Hmh," Zell answered.

Silence…"I think I'll take you off of probation. You look like you've learned your lesson and Comfort seems like a nice girl. I know you could use a friend too."

Zell stared at the side of Squall's serious expression. "Thanks."

More silence. "Are you comfortable with your new life?"

A knife sliced Zell in the eye. He was just reminded that this was his new life. Up until this point he had been calling the situation he was in "a new life" because he was being slightly optimistic by using sarcasm on his state of mind, for his own blond well being of course. But now the person who caused him the most disdain had implicated the fact that he really didn't have a choice in the matter, once again. "Ehhh…" Zell's expressions were amusing Squall so he began to chuckle slightly earning a look from Zell. "What?"

They were both facing each other now. Staring each other down for different reasons. Zell stared into the dark cloudy orbs of Squall's looking for a simple answer; a significant answer; acceptance and convincing that he was wanted here by the person whom he wanted to want him. Squall stared into the bright shiny wet blue eyes of Zell's looking for something to put emotions he had never felt toward; something to invest in and something that wasn't like him to understand him, acceptance and to be given warmth and comfort in open arms that wasn't available here in this cold nation called Esthar.

The gazing stopped for both boys and Squall closed the gap for them. Zell loved it when real men made the first move. Squall claimed Zell's waist with one hand and his neck with the other. Zell didn't resist as the both exhaled to prepare for a long sweet kiss. Squall's lips were so soft, which surprised Zell a lot, considering he was kissing someone so tough.

Zell let his Human guard down and roamed the front of the demon's body in a way that he never had, actually searching this time instead of just treating it as if it were math class (only did it because he had to.) Now he put a passion in it.

They both broke a part breathless and panting for air. Zell leaned his weight into Squall's solid chest. Squall embraced him and idled his hands over the small of Zell's lower back. Many signs of respect for one another were being shown tonight. The way Squall spoke to Zell, the way he was touching the blond, the way Zell didn't make any smart remarks or roll his eyes. They were showing respect for one another now. What changed?

Zell realized, he actually had a crush on Squall for some time now. He just didn't want to admit it because A.) Squall was a vampire, and B.) Squall was a cold hearted jerk. He liked a vampire jerk, different from sleeping with one.

Neither acknowledged the situation, but somehow understood what was happening. Zell wouldn't tell anyone how Squall felt towards him. He probably didn't even realize how bad of a thing it was here in vampire culture: to have emotions like this. They stayed in each other's arms for a while, both of them experiencing what it felt like to be wanted. Zell never had anyone who wasn't a fucking liar (Irvine) hold him like this. Squall had never felt anything like this before in his eternal life.

Squall felt as though he had crossed the boundaries once again that week. He would've pulled away and distanced himself away from the fighter for another week if Zell hadn't spoken up. The blond grabbed Squall's sleeve and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, can we just stay like this, a little bit longer? I like it here…with you."

Squall stared at the top of Zell's spiky blond head for a moment before he rested his chin in it as he pulled the boy closer in response. "That's because…I think this is where you belong," was all he said.

**A/N: I'm sooooo. Sorry for the late update. But College started again, this time I have to go to school with people my age (ugh I know right? Fucking teenagers). It has been consuming most of my time and only now (on Halloween night do I have time to revise everything). So here's a super long chapter with plenty of smex AND INTAMACY!**

**And I know I promised a fight, but looks like it'll have to be split in two chapters, so the fight between Zell and Rinoa will be in the next chapter.**

(1) Lilacs really do represent all of these things. That's why I picked the three perfect men for Zell. Irvine relates mostly to friendship for Zell, because he is the first real friend he made since he ran away from home, Squall is innocents since he obviously took that away from Zell a couple chapters back. That only leaves first love. Hmmm, I wonder who'll get that title? *grins devilishly*


	18. Rinoa vs Zell pt 2

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Language, Rinoa Bashing, Violence, sex, lemons, character death**

**A/N: Wow it's been far too long since I updated this story. Almost two years. Sorry for the long wait, been busy with school…and many other things in my life that I don't too much care to go into detail about…**

**Disclaimer: W00T! New disclaimer! I do not own any of the boys, places, or airships, or plot from any Final fantasy, although I will say that I and Zell do share Seifer…**

**Chapter 17: Rinoa vs. Zell Part 2**

**Zell**

As the week went by, Zell had met some of Comfort's friends and quickly became friends with a few others from the festival. All of the acquaintances Zell had made so far were slaves/servants and workers, but he didn't care so long as they were Human.

Zell got out of his bed and went to his bathroom to take a shower. Regardless of the conversation he had with Comfort about fighting Rinoa, Zell couldn't help but mentally fret over the fight he'd have to face with her. This was life or death, and Zell had no idea how to even use his crossbow yet. The water hit him non-stop. Hot water and steam relaxed the muscles in his arms legs, stomach and back.

When he was done he dried off and wrapped a towel around his waist. After drying his hair out with another, he looked up, pushing his golden locks out of his vision, surprised to see Squall standing right in front of him. Zell blindly threw a punch to Squall's face.

The dark prince moved his head to the side and easily dodged the blow, immediately catching Zell's wrist. They both stayed that way for a while. Ocean colored eyes meeting almost obsidian ones. Zell finally relaxed and hung his head low. "You scared me," was all Zell said.

"Sorry. I thought you heard me come in…nice reflexes," The brunet replied.

"Thanks," Zell trailed off wondering why Squall was standing in the middle of his bathroom. Also, Squall was still holding Zell's wrist with a gentle grip by his side. Could he possibly want to have sex before the day even started? "Well, I'll be on my way to the arena then." Zell bowed and was about to run out of the bathroom. They both relaxed and Zell was about to leave, but Squall stayed on his arm.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Zell panicked. He messed up again. Already. That fast.

"Ummm," he blond stammered nervously. Zell was yanked closer to the taller prince, pulled against his muscled chest.

"This." Squall kissed Zell on the lips briefly. "Let's do that every morning…I like it."

Zell smiled his cheesy grin. "Okay," the blond agreed.

Squall let go of Zell and said, "Remember you don't have double training anymore, so I want to see you later on today."

Zell was transfixed by the new Squall. It's like the man had changed overnight. "Okay," Zell agreed blindly.

"You'd better hurry or you'll be late."

Zell smiled again and ran off to get changed, breaking the embrace. Maybe today would be a good day.

**Laharl**

Laharl sat on a rock polishing a tool. Not just any ordinary tool though. This tool was steel, shaped like a triangle with a string at the neck, with blades at the end and shot deadly arrows at speeds high enough to rip scales off of most dragons. The specific model Laharl held in his hands was a practice version. T-7689 type A. If Zell was going to be ready in a week and a half, he'd need to start with a sturdier, heavier version.

Footsteps could be heard approaching on gravel fast. Laharl looked up and saw a fit young Hume breathing quickly. "Sorry I'm late! I got caught up in breakfast."

Laharl glared at the Hume. Not noticing he was late, he decided he could still have a little fun with him. Without warning, the purple haired vampire loaded the crossbow quickly and shot at Zell's feet. Zell quickly did a back flip and successfully dodged the sharp arrow. "What the hell are you doing!"

**Quip! Woosh!**

A cartwheel this time.

**Quip! Quip!**

**Ping! Ping!**

Zell dodged both arrows in a row.

"Cut it out!" Zell shrieked.

"That was actually pretty good. You dodged three. Before you learn how to fire this thing you have to work on your speed-which actually isn't that bad right now."

Zell narrowed his eyes venomously at Laharl. "Keep it up and I'll be dead before the fight," he shot. "You could've just killed me."

Laharl dashed at Zell from the hill faster than the blond could blink. He ducked just in time just fast enough for his head not to get chopped off by the blades of the gun. Swiping low at Laharl's feet, the Hume only thrust his ankle through air. In seconds Laharl was on top of Zell with the gun pointed at Zell's throat. "Cut this shit out and let's just practice," Zell shouted, slightly nervous at the now point blank gun resting at his neck.

"Wake up and smell the lilacs. This _is_ practice; you're not leaving here until you can dodge these. You can't fire a crossbow unless you have the speed to back it up. Otherwise you'd be like a scorpion trying to fight with a stinger but no legs. Know what I mean?"

Zell shoved Laharl off with his foot sending him flying backwards. The violet haired demon back flipped in the air and landed on his feet. "Ya know…you talk too much," Zell commented. "Just do your job and teach." Zell rushed forward almost flying in a straight line toward Laharl in an attempt to disarm him.

**King Laguna**

The brunette had been walking down a hall and rounding a corner, when he encountered his father.

"Ah, there you are. I've been meaning to have a word with you." Squall inwardly rolled his eyes. Great. "The fight is rapidly approaching. Is your human prepared?"

The two began walking in unison towards the foyer. "Why not ask him yourself? You have barely said a word to him since he has been here."

"I will hold off on getting to know him until he becomes your wife..."

"Oh…I see, he has to meet your standards in order for you to look at him."

"I have seen him plenty…The question is have _you _seen him?"

"I've more than seen him, I'm sure you know that by now."

"Yes I can sense the life growing inside him slowly each day. I'm aware of your …activities."

"Then, I'm sure you must understand how important it Is that he win. I refuse to marry a woman who is as barren as a brick. Why should I settle for less, when I can have a boy as fertile as the Nile?"

Squall made to walk ahead of his father signifying the end of the conversation, a natural talent the brunette had had for a large portion of his life. But his father grabbed his arm, signifying that this was not over.

"I don't want history to repeat itself, Squall. You'll save yourself a lot of pain if you just take the easy route."

Squall turned in a calm fury. "Is that your answer, father?" Squall spat the last word. "Take the easy route and kill off the difficult one? Like you did to mom many years back?"

"Your mother was a powerful Human woman-

"Who will never know her son thanks to some idiot who got her pregnant and died during child birth. But this time things will be different. This time they'll both live. The mother…and the child."

Squall really did walk away this time, mentally daring his father to stop him twice. King Loire watched his retreating son's form. The king knew what a vampire looked like when he fell in love. When a vampire falls in love, the side effects could be good or bad…

**Zell**

Several hours of practice left Zell feeling more beat than usual. As he was heading towards his room for a quick shower, he ran into none other than. "Ah! The King! I mean, good evening your highness!"

Zell quickly bowed.

"Good evening. You're just getting done with training?"

"Yes, your highness, I just finished and was on my way to go take a shower," Zell added signifying that he didn't want to make the king feel forced into having a conversation, it would just make living under his roof even more awkward. Zell rarely ever did see the King and when he did he was seldom alone. He usually had the thin black guy and the huge whale-man with him.

"I hear from Laharl that you have made excellent progress."

"Laharl, sir?"

"Yes…whatever he reports to the prince, he will also report to me naturally."

"Oh yes, of course."

"And if you are to become prince of this kingdom, Laharl will be working directly under you and Squall."

To be honest Zell didn't think past the fight, especially when it came to living in a place like this for the rest of his life. "That's good to hear…Laharl is very dedicated to his work." Where was this conversation going anyway?

The king must have noticed Zell's thoughts because after that he said simply, "Let me cut straight to the chase. Tomorrow, your chances of winning are greater than you think. A word of advice: think about what you have to lose, and what you have to gain. If you survive, you may even find out that the new life that awaits you won't be so bad after all."

"…Excuse me?"

"Oh nothing. Just the ramblings of an immortal king. See you at dinner."

King Loire excused himself and preceded onward, leaving Zell standing there with a bold question mark over his head. Maybe this is why Zell and the king had not yet conversed, the time didn't come until it mattered most and/or the man was insane…

**Squall**

Today was the day of the fight. Squall sat in his throne on the balcony of the Arena. Tens of Thousands of people surrounded the entire stadium scrambling to buy snacks and find seats. People from Caraway kingdom had visited to attend the fight, supporting Rinoa. He was glad he could sit away from it all in his own private box. The brunet heard a door open behind him. In walked a purple haired warrior.

"How are you holding up?" Laharl asked.

Squall could only grunt in response.

Laharl frowned at his worried companion. "You have no reason to be nervous, you know? I've drilled him constantly nonstop the past few weeks."

Squall sighed and reduced his fidgeting slightly, nodding his head in agreement. He pinched the bridge of his nose again. All of a sudden he could feel a headache coming on.

**Zell**

Somewhere in the depths of the castle cellar, Zell was also fidgeting with the material of his new attire. He was clad in demonic battle armor that resembled that of Squall and Laharl's. Zell however showed more skin and his material was sky blue colored. He stood in a waiting room with many accommodations as he waited for the guard to lead him out to the arena. He was sweating bullets and feeling more and more nauseous in his stomach as the seconds went by.

He couldn't take it anymore, vomiting was inevitable. He ran into the bathroom and began puking his lunch into the toilet (with his eyes closed of course). After he was done he looked into the mirror and saw that he was white as a ghost. "You're not really pregnant are you?" he asked his reflection. "These are just nerves, right?"

Loud pounding came from the other side of the bathroom door, disturbing Zell of his thoughts. "You have five minutes to finish up in there," the guard called from outside.

"I'll be done in a second!" Zell called back with a slight attitude. The blond Hume paced around in the bathroom holding his flat tummy. He lowered his helmet that revealed only his blue eyes. "Don't interfere."

**Comfort**

Comfort and her Hume friends had taken their seats. For minorities they had actually gotten pretty good ones. "So who do you think will win?" Comfort asked a darker male associate.

"I'd hate to say it, but it looks like your friend is history."

"Have a lil more faith."

Two cloaked figures could be seen strolling in the middle of the Arena floor. Comfort looked down to see that it was the King of the Lore Kingdom, Laguna. And Caraway, the King of Caraway Kingdom. "Shut up yall, dey' bout to say somethin'!"

"I welcome you all, Loirens and Carawayans, to the Fight that will determine the outcome of the marriage this year. Before we began the bloody battle, let me tell you all a little story," Laguna began. The crowed murmured in confusion. Laguna never liked to make speeches like this.

"Recently, I've met a young man. He, unlike many of us, is Hume. I've had great pleasure in making this acquaintance: admiring his spunk from a far, and watching him grow within our culture, slowly but surely. Keep in mind, that this battle will determine the new princess or prince of the Loire Kingdom. You need to also keep in mind that one of the competitors is this very male Hume in which I speak of. This kingdom is headed for great change. You can either evolve with it, or wither outside of these very walls along with the past. As for myself, I am welcoming this change whether it happens or not. That's all I will say."

The majority of the audience jumped in applause. Knowing exactly what the King was talking about. Then the black robed Caraway spoke. "The fight consists of a one on one fight to the death match. Fighter number 1: Zell Dincht of the Humes, and Fighter number 2: Rinoa Caraway of the Caraway Kingdom Vampire Community. The reward at stake is the right to rule alongside Prince Leonheart. Let the match begin!"

The crowd went even crazier this time. Comfort pounded her fists together and said under her breath, "Come on Zell!"

**Zell**

The blond Hume was escorted through a long stone corridor underground by a stoic guard. It was more like a tunnel. It led exactly to the inside of the arena he later found out as the gate rose. As soon as he set foot onto the concrete he heard a million voices erupt in joy. Others took the liberty of booing him, wanting to see him dead rather than the new seat of the kingdom. All of a sudden Zell's nausea cleared up. The cheers from the audience seemed to give him the inspiration he needed to do this.

Looking ahead, on the other side of the arena, gates were opened as well. A heeled boot stepped out on the concrete, followed by a curved body, in dark blue battle armor and robes. The crowd began to cheer again. Zell was too excited to tell who had more cheers: He or Rinoa.

He pursed his lips together in discord. Rinoa was completely in the arena now standing over 50 feet away. The space was huge for this fight. And Zell intended to take advantage of every inch of it. Laharl had drilled him nonstop, and he wouldn't let Rinoa take away his only chance of survival. Behind him he heard the sound of stone scraping against stone. The gate was closing behind him.

This was it now. Either kill her, or be killed by her. "NO ESCAPE!" The words rang from the speakers above. They filled the stadium. They were words that came from the voice of King Caraway. "Fight!"

Zell had made the mistake of looking into the audience. He saw both kings, Kiros, Ward, Laharl, and Squall was looking right at him. A wave of pain overwhelmed him as he was speared in the ribs. Something hard had tackled him and sent him through the air. The weight landed on him. He was slammed between the concrete ground and what he soon found out to be Rinoa trying to kill him already.

She pinned his arms with her knees. He couldn't throw her off of him. He was trapped. Small gloved hands wrapped themselves around Zell's neck. He felt his vision begin to blur. His instincts finally kicked in and his flexible leg flew forward all the way to the back of Rinoa's head, producing a scream from her lips. Without thinking Zell did it again. Over and over until he heard something crack and the hands released themselves from around Zell's neck.

Zell felt like weights were lifted off of his arms. Rinoa had rolled forward off of his body and bits of armor littered the area near his shoulders. Zell quickly got up looking for Rinoa. Had Zell cracked the back of Rinoa's helmet? Zell spun around scanning the area for any trace of her. He got into his fighting stance. "Come out!" he shouted. Where could she be?

He was tackled again, this time from the side. This time he was ready for it. He didn't go down easily. He used his hand to brace the fall and landed on his feet in a somersault. Landing on his feet he was able to reverse Rinoa's attack and suplex her to the ground earning another crack and a shriek.

The vampire shrieked in pain as her back collided with the ground which gave a good portion of the crowed something to cheer about. Zell tried to keep her pinned with his own weight, but her strength was immense. She burst out of the hold, sending Zell flying, but he landed safely. She charged him with her claws unsheathed, quicker than Zell could blink and almost pierced his gut had she not tripped over a rock.

Zell knew they would both lose their balance and Rinoa would end up on top of him giving her an advantage, but Zell wouldn't go down without a fight. He sent an uppercut underneath her face, practically taking her chin off. She seemed winded as she lay on him. Zell took this opportunity to flip her over and he began scratching the shit out of her with his implants.

Female vampires in the military were required to utilize their nails in combat, and since Zell wasn't a vampire and didn't have their nails, Laharl had provided him with close combat shrapnel press-on nails. As Zell put gashes in Rinoa's face he was subconsciously thanking his violet haired mentor. He couldn't let Rinoa win. She would kill him, and then he wouldn't be able to have his child, which was something he felt as though he needed to protect, with his life.

Rinoa had been careless. Zell pinned her arms down with his own knees. Something vicious in him emerged on the surface and Rinoa could see the change within the Hume all of a sudden. His eyes were no longer that weak mortal blue. They were burning black poison. Zell brandished his crossbow and fired 3 rounds into Rinoa's heart and point blank range. Zell had killed her, and after realizing that, his eyes immediately changed back to his normal blues. Zell collapsed and then there was nothing but darkness.

…..

Zell awoke in the middle of the night. The first thing he noticed was the body next to him. Squall looked at Zell from his sitting position. The blond immediately remembered what happened and instinctively clutched at his flat tummy.

"You have nothing to worry about. You're both fine," Squall reassured. Zell raised a brow at Squall. "I can feel its presence still, so it wasn't harmed. Neither were you. You just overexerted yourself."

Zell looked at his legs and said, "Oh," dumbly. "Did I…win?"

"You're alive aren't you?"

"I don't remember killing her…everything went dark."

"Everyone in that audience knows your pregnant now. What happened was that your body instinctively borrowed energy from the baby, and you used it to numb your human emotions when you killed Rinoa."

"Oh. Is that what happened? I knew I wouldn't be able to do it on my own…" Zell made to move from the bed and headed for the bathroom, leaving Squall on the bed by himself. His body hadn't even taken a lot of hits from the fight with Rinoa, but his body felt a tad sore. He ran water on his face to get the grogginess out of his eyes and brushed his teeth. He came back into the room and saw Squall with an indifferent expression.

"Are you going to be okay?" the vampire asked.

"Yeah."

"I never realized how weak and fragile Humans could be…yet so beautiful and strong at the same time." Zell blushed when Squall called him beautiful. It was very unexpected. Squall rose to his feet from off of the bed. "I know I don't say much, but if you want to talk to me about something…I'm here too. Not just Comfort."

"Okay."

Sensing that the Hume was still being distant with him, Squall changed subjects. "The wedding is tomorrow."

Zell had looked up at Squall in surprise. "Already? That's quick."

"I do not wish to wait much longer."

"….I see," Zell concluded knowing he didn't have much choice.

"I have something for you. I've had it for a while but I couldn't give it to you until after the fight with Rinoa.

Squall produced a small ring box from somewhere. He opened the box revealing a shimmering gem affixed to a golden wedding band. Zell stared at the blinding jewel. "Is that?"

"A symbol of our unity," Squall finished.

Zell was breathless. He had never seen anything more expensive or extravagantly beautiful in his life. When he tried to speak, he realized he hadn't been asked to marry Squall so he stopped short not knowing what to say. Squall took Zell's smaller hand in his own and placed the ring on his beautiful pale finger. "It's…gorgeous…thanks."

Squall smirked at Zell's reaction. "Not sure what to say? You're so cute when you're like this."

Zell blushed a shy red again. Squall had actually called him cute.

"My beautiful…strong…Human prince." Squall cupped Zell's face with his hands and stared into his eyes. Who was this man all of a sudden? Zell wondered.

…

Zell had been eating his usual breakfast in the Dining Hall of the castle. He had been nervous all morning because today was the day of the wedding. He was hoping that he could get his lunch down without throwing it all up. He had already dry heaved earlier from morning sickness.

As he made his way out of the hall he bumped into a familiar face.

"Well hello there."

"Hey Laharl."

"I'm glad I found you. Listen, I know you've already defeated Rinoa, but there's still one part of your training we never got a chance to cover."

"Um, well I don't need to fight anymore…I won…right?"

"Well this is different. This will come in handy for the rest of your life. Come on. We're going to the ballroom."

….

The wedding actually wasn't that bad. The upside was being able to wear a nice tuxedo, which was really tight on Zell's body and made Zell's hips and curves more obvious, but none the less made Zell finally feel like a boy for the first time since he had been here. He had suspected Squall had it picked out for him just so it would match the own man's interests. It ended in a flash for Zell. He seemed to be pulled in various directions throughout the whole ordeal.

The party after the ceremony had been going on for about an hour now and there was still much more to experience. When it came time for Zell and Squall to dance, the blond blushed and took his husband's hand. Laharl had taught Zell how to waltz that morning. It had been awkward, but it was coming in handy right now.

The music started, and then Zell and Squall began moving in harmony with one another. Squall leaned down by Zell's ear and whispered, "Comfort's not the only one who knows how to dance in this kingdom."

Zell almost laughed out loud but managed to keep it at a smile that stayed until the end of the song. Despite everything, this was a nice feeling. Squall's strong masculine body framed Zell's like a beautiful painting. More and more couples joined in the waltz on the ballroom, giving Zell and Squall the cue to socialize at the party.

"I'm gonna go get a drink," Zell told Squall. "Thank you for the dance." Squall nodded his understandings and walked the opposite direction, headed for Laharl.

Zell drank a glass of Human wine from the banquet table. Who should he find but his new bff, behind the counter serving food. "Comfort!"

"Hey, Mr. Champion. Congratulations!"

Zell practically leaped over the counter and hugged Comfort. "I feel like we haven't talked in forever!"

"You were busy, we all know that."

"Yeah, learning how to stay alive."

"You're so handsome!"

"You're just saying that because I'm wearing a tuxedo!" Zell accused playfully.

Comfort rolled her eyes and was about to say something witty back, but her eyes glanced over Zell's shoulder. "Don't look now, but I think you're being talked about."

Zell immediately whirled around, frustrating Comfort. "You dork! I said not to look!"

"Well usually when someone says 'don't look now', they want you to look. What do you think they're saying about me?"

They were both referring to Squall and Laharl, across the ballroom. They were giving Zell looks and talking under their breath. "Probably wondering the same thing about us…" Comfort replied.

"None of their fucking business. I've been on their leash for far too long now. Bout time I got some damn respect as a prince around here."

"Yeah. And hopefully you'll make it a lot easier on us Humes. You have the power now, ya know."

"Yeah, we'll see. This is only the beginning…"

The two laughed and Comfort poured Zell a glass of wine. Zell took a sip and when he finished, he was surrounded by three men.

"Zell, would you honor me with a dance?" King Laguna asked Zell.

Zell looked Kiros and Ward up and down, took another swig of his wine and said, "Sure, it would be an honor," being as respectful as possible. He took the king's hand and allowed him to be escorted to the dance floor. He had no choice but to leave Comfort with the king's bodyguards.

The king took Zell by the waist and they began moving to the new waltz….they seemed to do a lot of waltzing at these weddings.

"I must congratulate you on your victory yesterday. Stellar performance, my son."

"Thank you. I worked really hard," Zell simply replied.

"Oh even without the practice you would have won. I'm sure you were telling yourself for weeks that you had no choice but to survive. Otherwise die at the hands of a demon," Laguna surmised.

Zell chuckled showing his pearly whites. "Well something like that, hahaha."

Laguna sensed the boy's awkwardness and sped up the pace. The song had almost reached its halfway mark after all. "I'll get straight to the point-

_Here we go a fucking gain, _Zell cursed himself. It was about to get insane like yesterday morning. "You are now royalty to a prestigious kingdom in Esthar. You co-rule on matters with my son and you are to produce the next heir and possibly heirs to the throne." Zell almost choked on all of this new information. Nothing ever seemed quite as big or serious until someone said it out loud.

King Laguna's voice became lower, then more serious. "Squall has invested a lot of emotions within you, more-so than I've ever seen him do for anyone. Even for a fleshy boney bag of emotions such as yourself, I don't think you're quite capable of returning those feeling. Not because I don't like you, which I'm sure you know I've grown quite fond of you myself as I stated yesterday before the fight, but because you are far too young to understand such things."

The king spun Zell around and elegantly dipped him. Zell came back up with a confused look on his face. "What exactly are you saying…sir?"

"I'm saying stop playing with his feelings. He's not even supposed to have them after all. This kingdom is strong because of its men. Do your part and keep him focused on what he needs to focus on to aid in the support of ruling this country. In other words: Don't fall in love with him."

Zell laughed a big laugh. "Is that what your concern has been, your highness?" Zell asked relieved. "Sir, I can assure you that that will never happen. My heart belongs to that of Humans and only Humans."

Laguna raised an eyebrow, followed by a smile. "Good to hear. Then I'll say one last thing," The song was nearing his end. "He's almost fallen completely in love with you. And your job is to not let that happen." Zell's smile faded away.

The party applauded themselves and thanked all of their dance partners. King Laguna kissed Zell's hand, smiled that warming smile, and walked towards Ward and Kiros. Kiros did the favor of putting on Laguna's robe, and the three retired for the night. However, the party continued to live.

There were many on the dance floor, but Zell stood by himself for seconds until Squall returned with a slight smile on his lips. "Hey," Zell said.

"Hey…you and my father sure seemed to be having fun."

"Yeah, he's really funny. I enjoyed talking with him."

Squall placed his hands on Zell's shoulders and eliminated any space that there was between them. "I'm bored of this. I need you now."

"But our guests-

"Can wait."

Zell saw the lust in his husband's eyes. Zell nodded his response, said goodnight to Comfort, and the two princes left their party to the guests. No one noticed them leave anyway. People were having too much fun at the wedding of the Leonhearts.

**A/N: Sorry about the looong delay again…ugh. But on a positive note YAY SUMMER!**


	19. Love?

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Language, Violence, sex, lemons **

**A/N: Hapy 4****th**** of July! I love ribs lol. **

**Disclaimer: W00T! New disclaimer! I do not own any of the boys, places, or airships, or plot from any Final fantasy, although I will say that I and Zell do share Seifer…**

**Chapter 19: Love (?)**

"….Well. Here we are," Zell said, trying to fill the silence in the room.

"Yes, here we are," Squall repeated plainly, whilst standing behind his wife rubbing his palms down the blond's arms and breathing slow breaths down his neck and giving him tiny chills.

This was the honeymoon. Not exactly how Zell would have pictured this moment years ago, but this is how it turned out now. Squall moved from behind Zell and sat on the edge of the bed never talking his eyes off of Zell. Zell took off his shoes and walked over to Squall very…slowly. He placed one of his bare feet next to Squall's leg and grabbed onto one of the brass bars that held the roofing of the bed together.

Squall began massaging Zell's leg that was up on the bed, acknowledging his wife's sensuality while he propped himself on his elbow, leaning back and milking the beautiful image in front of him. Zell moved his hips playfully in front of Squall. Squall looked from Zell's hips to his face in question. "What are you doing?" the demon asked, with his sexual curiosity peaked.

Zell sopped moving immediately. "I was just dancing for you."

Realization hit Squall. "Oh."

The tattoo on Zell's face scrunched up in a tense fashion. "I guess you don't like that sort of thing…" Zell began to blush. He felt stupid for thinking he could turn Squall on with a silly snake charm.

He moved to lower himself back down on the floor, but Squall grabbed Zell's ankle in protest. Zell gave him a questioning look. "Dance for me Zell…Please? I like watching you dance."

Zell felt something in his chest spark from the look that Squall was giving him. All Zell could say was, "Okay."

….

Several hours passed by. Both boys lay in bed, sweaty, tired and sated. The moonlight shone through the window, it was full, complete and beautiful. Zell had lost count of how many times they had had sex on their honeymoon. When Zell had finished dancing, Squall was extremely turned on. He was so hard in his pants for his wife that he felt that he would rip the fabric on the crotch area of his pants. After the 5th round Zell had lost count to how many times Squall had come inside of him, but Zell's body felt really good now. It showed too-he was glowing.

Squall had his eyes closed. Even though he was a vampire, he looked extremely exhausted. Zell lay on his side, staring at his chocolate haired husband. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Buff chest glistening in a coat of sweat running down his taut stomach. The blanket covered up the rest, but Zell was already quite familiar with those lower regions. Zell wouldn't have known any better just by looking at how small Squall was compared to other men-height wise at least. He never would have guessed that Squall had a dick that big. He got worked up just thinking about Squall's big, thick, meaty-

"You want to do it again?" Squall's deep scratchy voice startled Zell and his eyes shifted upwards immediately.

"What do you mean?" Zell tried to ask innocently, struggling to get words out of his dry throat.

"I can feel you staring at it," Squall reasoned. "You want me to give it to you again? I can if you want." Squall began running his knuckles up and down Zell's inner thigh.

"Squall, we've already-"

The demon silenced Zell with a kiss on the lips. "I love you."

Zell stared wide-eyed at his husband. "What?"

"….You heard me."

"I don't know what to say." To be honest, Squall was scaring Zell. "Um…Squall, that's a strong word to say."

Squall's face didn't change much. He just kept his attention focused on his wife, prepared to accept knowledge.

"I mean, Humans say it to the people they really care about. Like the ones they would die for."

Squall tried to comprehend what Zell was saying. A few moments passed in silence, Squall staring at Zell-and Zell looking away, already feeling bad for what he had said. Zell waited for Squall to reply, but he seemed to be deep in thought. Then, to Zell's disappointment, Squall just turned over, and faced away from Zell and didn't say another word that whole night.

Zell didn't dare speak either. He knew he had hurt Squall's pride and he felt stupid for opening his mouth. He could not be punished, they were both princes and on an equal level. But it was true: He didn't want to get his hopes up for Squall actually loving him. If Squall was going to have a future in this kingdom, he couldn't love Zell, and Zell couldn't love Squall, Laguna had made that perfectly clear. There was just no way a vampire could ever love anyone or anything, especially a human. Cold hearted creatures, at birth, ruthless and power hungry. Vicious, relentless, unforgiving immortals. Squall wasn't even half of these things, which is why it hurt the blond so much to reject him.

Zell knew he _did _care about Squall, and maybe Squall cared a little bit about the baby inside of Zell and then after that _maybe _he cared even less about Zell. But he would never love….

Zell rolled over on his side facing away from Squall's back. He shut his eyes and tried to go to sleep. He didn't realize that his husband was laying next to him, fighting the urge not to snuggle up behind the blond for fear of being pushed away in anger. He just lay there on the other side, eyes wide open, a million thoughts going through his head.

…

The next day, Zell woke up to the sound of movement not far from him. He had heard Squall getting dressed. The blond was about to open his eyes, but the sun threatened to burn his pupils, so he hid under the covers in annoyance. "It's time to wake up, Zell," Zell heard his husband's voice above him.

He felt the bed shift as Squall sat down next to his legs. "I don't wanna. I'm so tired."

"You're tired because my baby grows inside of you." Zell threw the covers off of himself immediately and shot up out of bed.

"Or maybe I'm just tired because I fought to the death with a demon on her period, woke up, got married, and then came home and had sex all night.

Zell headed towards the bathroom, with a sort of new sway to his hips, Squall had noticed. Slightly amused by the boy's minor mood swing, Squall called out to him, "When you're done in the bathroom meet me outside."

…..

Zell trotted downstairs. For the first time since he was brought here, he felt free. He was finally out of his low class clothes and got to wear whatever he wanted. He got stares now and then from his people, but he also got respect and bows as the new Prince of Loire Kingdom. This rocked. But was he living in a fantasy world? How long could he last like this and still be happy…until the baby was born?

The guards opened the gates for Zell and he took a step outside. He saw his prince waiting for him on the steps. "Hey," he called to Squall. Squall turned and stood up for Zell as he approached. "So what are we doing today?" he asked.

Squall slightly smiled at his wife, he liked it when Zell was all cheery like this. Squall rarely smiled, but Zell liked it when he did. "Well we're technically still on our honeymoon. So we can do whatever we want. Tomorrow we both go back to work though."

"Ugh that's it? Just one day?" Zell whined.

"Yes, welcome to the kingdom..."

"I see, well, then let's go do something fun. There're still lots of places in your kingdom I've never been. I haven't been to Esthar city either. Can we go there!"

Squall scowled at the idea.

"What?"

"It's just that it's usually so crowded and busy…."

"Oh well then we can just walk around outside the castle then," Zell said, not hiding his dejection at all.

"If you really want to go to Esthar I can take you, Zell," Squall corrected, trying to keep the blond in a good mood.

"You suuuure you don't mind?"

Squall took Zell's hand and looked into his deep blue orbs. "I'd do anything for you."

Zell was unnecessarily stunned by these words, much like last night when Squall had said-

"So let's get going. There's a tram that'll take us right into the shopping district. I know you must want to buy new clothes."

"And we can eat hot dogs, too!" Zell exclaimed.

"What's a hot dog?"

Zell almost tripped and fell on his head.

….

It was chilly in Esthar. Of course nearing the end of October, it was to be expected especially in a huge city like this. It reminded Zell of Deiling-the hustle and bustle. And from what Zell could tell, the Humans here all seemed peaceful. In the back of Zell's mind, he mischievously plotted of escaping away, desperate for human contact, but then again he was having fun with Squall. Besides, how far would he get anyway? It would be pointless.

They were going to grab lunch then head out and go shopping. They found a seat in the restaurant. Zell took off his jacket. He had found out he needed to dress warm for Esthar, because it was even colder than the Loire kingdom this time of year. "What is this place?" Squall asked holding his warm aluminum package.

"It's the only place that sells hot dogs that's close by, now shush and eat," Zell explained opening his aluminum foil package. Squall watched in silence as Zell took out a breaded object with some sort of meat in the middle. He watched as Zell grabbed a bottle with thick red fluid in it and squeezed a straight line over the meat part.

He took one end, opened his mouth and bit down slowly. The taste of the meat caused warm memories flooded behind the blond's blue ocean eyes. The last time he had a hot dog was almost two months ago at Gulladog, where he and Irvine had met for the first time. As Zell chewed, he wondered how the upperclassman was doing. He had been here for a little beneath a month, so he doubted anyone had bothered to come looking for him. With a mouthful, he came back to Earth and concluded "Rat's how joo do eet."

"That looked slightly pornographic," Squall commented, shifting his legs to accommodate the new growth.

Zell swallowed his bite and said, "I wasn't trying to make a sex tape. Just teach you how to eat a hot dog, silly. Here you try."

Squall sighed and opened the wrapping. He took a bite out of it, not bothering to put any toppings on it. When he bit down, Zell noticed a glimpse of his fangs and shuddered on the inside. He had almost forgotten who and what he was with right now. Squall noticed the surprise on Zell's face. "What? Am I eating this thing wrong?"

"No!" Zell lied really quickly. "It's nothing, I just spaced out."

"Easy on these sugary human drinks, then," Squall demanded referring to Zell's cherry coke. "These are pretty good by the way. I usually don't eat Human food, though I'm sure you knew that."

"Well you're married to me now. I'm going to make sure the kitchen staff knows how to make them," the tattooed blond declared beaming from the other end of the table.

"I guess I won't oppose, since you'll be having those crazy baby cravings for the several few months."

Zell's smile faded. He started rubbing the back of his neck and looked down at his lap.

Squall placed his gloved fingers in Zell's small bare ones. "Are you ashamed to have a child by me, Zell?"

"No…" he answered with very little energy.

"Then why does my prince become like this whenever I mention the baby?" Squall demanded.

"Can we not talk about this right now? I just want to enjoy this day, with you. I don't want to think about anything else."

Squall stared at Zell's forehead. That's all he could see anyway since Zell was looking down at his mostly finished hot dog. Squall looked at his own hot dog and then back to Zell who had finally looked up.

"If that's the way you want it, but we're going to have to talk about this sooner or later."

It became quiet again. Squall became anxious all of a sudden and somehow Zell could sense it. Zell didn't want to frustrate his husband too much today, so he immediately tried to change subjects. "Well, you wanna go look around at the stores now?" he asked forcing that familiar smile on his face. Squall smirked at his wife and nodded.

They had managed to keep the peace for a while. Up until they had arrived at a department store. Zell liked Esthar because there was always so much STUFF! Zell was looking at skinny jeans for himself and then wandered over to the straight legged jeans section. "These would look nice on you, Squall!" Zell exclaimed.

Squall looked at the jeans. They had rips in them. "Ummm, they're human clothes."

"Yeah, so? OMGee! You have to try them on! Seriously."

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose. "Um, I did the hot dog and came to the city with you. I'm drawing the line at playing dress up, Zell."

Zell frowned, but then a devious little trick crossed his mind. He shrugged and went back to pretend examining the jeans and said, "Fine by me. I was just hoping that if you wore the jeans, I could wear a little something for you tonight. I would even let you pick it out."

Zell didn't miss the lump that went down Squall's throat. He was getting aroused by the idea. "Anything?" He asked.

"Of course. You're my husband aren't you?" he replied very erotically.

Squall sighed and said, "Whatever."

Zell almost screamed in the store. He settled for a low squeal instead. He immediately shot from rack to rack picking out things for Squall to wear. Squall followed him with his arms crossed and not even blinking. He had to make sure Zell didn't try to dress him up as some sort of old geezer.

"Okay I want you to try all this on!" Zell handed Squall a pile of clothes and pointed him in the direction of the dressing rooms.

"Fine," Squall muttered grudgingly. On his way to the dressing rooms he could have sworn he was on a date with Rinoa. But then he realized he would never wear Hume clothes for Rinoa. Only for Zell.

When Squall came out of the dressing room, Zell's jaw almost dropped. "Wow. I really cleaned you up nicely."

"This is only for today, okay?"

"Of course," Zell agreed. His fingers crossed behind his back. Zell turned his back to look at some shoes for himself. He had been picking things out and he _thought_ he was talking to Squall the whole time asking him for his opinion of a few things. But Squall never answered. Zell was used to his silence but when he turned around to finally see what Squall's problem was, he wasn't there.

Zell looked around for any sign of Squall, but didn't see him immediately so he went back to the dressing room station. There was a girl working there assorting all the unwanted clothes people had left behind. Zell approached her. "Excuse me, ma'am. Have you seen my husband? He's about this high, chocolate brown hair, looks like a rock star at the moment."

"Oh that's your husband? Well, you're so lucky congratulations to both of you."

"Oh thank you."

"Yeah, I saw him walk over towards the carousal area a few minutes ago."

Zell's lip twitched, but kept his manners in check. "Thank you ma'am."

Without waiting for the girl's reply, Zell stormed off toward the infantry section. He made it there in less than a minute-his annoyance and anger fueled him the whole time. Almost tripping over a box of baby wipes, he saw Squall looking at maternity dresses near the far wall.

Squall must have smelled, Zell's scent, or either sensed his anger, because he turned around to see the accusing glare of his wife approaching him.

"Zell, what's wrong? Is someone harassing you?" He asked already ready to kill any threat that harassed Zell.

"No, Squall there's no one bothering me. But, I thought I said to drop this subject."

"What subject?"

"About the BABY!" Zell practically shouted.

Squall looked around, and quickly cupped Zell's mouth and pulled him to the side. There happened to be a part of the store where no one was and Squall guided his blond angry wife against a wall. "Don't shout," Squall warned. "Calm down."

Zell threw Squall's arms off of him. He didn't yell again, but every word he said definitely had a sting. "You expect me to calm down and you're already picking out pampers and dresses for me! It's barely been a month and you keep pressuring me about this. What do you want from me?"

"Zell, you're already giving me what I want."

"Then why can't we just be happy? Just the two of us alone?"

Squall stared at Zell. "So you lied, you _are_ ashamed to have my baby."

"Why do you care about how I feel about it _now_? You never asked me if I wanted to. You just made me do it!" Zell's eyes began to water while he accused Squall, remembering that he never had a choice in _anything_ to begin with. True colors were began to reveal themselves.

Squall let Zell's words sink in. He walked around the aisle for a moment leaving a slightly sobbing Zell against the wall. Then he finally came back and spoke. "Okay, I admit. I didn't care before because the way I thought then, was very different from how I feel now. Before it was just, you, your body. Zell, do you realize for how long I've wanted you?" A part of Squall knew that the hunt was supposed to thrill Squall, but another part of him felt unwanted. "All those weeks with no release, so close yet so far away, can you really blame me for taking it all away from you at once? You were doing the same thing to me. The whole time."

Zell was angered more by that last statement. This had nothing to do with that, and Zell didn't think Squall would be someone to make a problem about himself. "If you had just asked me out on a date from the start, you could have gotten to know me, and showed that you cared. If you had turned out like this, I would have known you were a nice guy, and it would have been so much easier for _both_ of us," Zell tried to explain calmly.

"I did try that first. You didn't like me then…even as a human man. I had no choice but to force you the way I should have to begin with. I'm not sure what I was thinking, pretending to be Human to impress you…"

"Well…not that it makes a difference, but I think you're a good man…Vampire or not," Squall that he was out of Zell's wrath…he thought wrong. "But this all happened _so _fast and with so much intensity, I barely remember who I am anymore. And the only thing that I've learned is that the vampire community has no decent guys to offer. You don't give these men what they want, so they just take it from you, am I right?"

"Well yeah, that's the thrill of the chase," Squall immediately regretted saying that, but he was only trying to explain to Zell how the situation really was.

Zell's eyes widened. "So then that's all I am to you? Is just a "chase…"

Squall's shoulders hung low from what he said. "You know that's not what I –"

"I told you you didn't love me. You could never understand what that is, no matter how hard you tried. Because if you did, you would have thought about me before you thought about yourself. _That's _what love is, Squall: Sacrifice/ putting others before oneself. Now I'm in a pointless marriage, because when I have the baby, more than likely I'll be dead. Laharl told me that when humans have kids, the mother dies… so even if you did love me, you're killing me. Can you still live with yourself? That no matter who you love, you'll just end up killing them any way!"

Zell's world was rocked when he felt his shoulder being grabbed forcefully. His back was slammed against the shelf, causing toys to rain down around Zell. Squall could feel himself losing control again. His instincts were kicking in. Then without thinking, Squall raised his hand."

Zell closed his eyes and awaited the blow, with a newfound ability to take moderate pains. But it never came. When Zell _did _finally open his eyes, he looked at Squall's face and saw one tear fall down the side of Squall's face. "Squall? You're-

"I know. I know. I know I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Squall pinched the bridge of his nose for a second and then wiped away the tear in annoyance. He brought Zell close to him and held him tight, not attempting to let go any time soon. "I'm sorry, Zell. I can't pretend like I know what's happening to you," he spoke into Zell's hair. "It happened to my mother, and now I'm doing it to you." _I'm no different than him, _the chocolate haired man insulted himself thinking scornfully of his father.

Zell began crying again in Squall's chest full out this time, not planning on stopping until the emotions ran dry. "I'm sorry too," Zell apologized. "I didn't mean all of that; I'm just so fucking scared…" He was shaking in Squall's arms now. He didn't know vampires could cry, although briefly Zell could have sworn he had seen a tear. "I don't wanna die."

"Don't be afraid, Zell. I'll protect you. You'll live. I swear on my life you'll live. Nothing can ever hurt you as long as I'm around. We'll raise this baby together. I promise."

Zell sniffled a few more times and then looked up at Squall's sincere face. A face that wasn't used to feeling sadness, or smiling either, but seemed to be able to do both just like any normal human. Squall wiped Zell's tears away with his gloved thumbs. "You really promise, Squall?"

"Of course, because. I know that…the feelings that I have for you now, I've never felt before. It has to be love, because I've been cut before, but never bled for too long, or felt much pain-I'll always heal from any mortal wound. But I know if I didn't have you in my life, I would surely drop dead where I stand."

They had never communicated like this. Squall had never said this much before. _Ever. _Zell stared into Squall's eyes.

"And I love our baby, too," Squall continued. The warrior took off one of his gloves and caressed the skin underneath Zell's T-shirt, feeling his creamy skin and still toned flat stomach. "She's definitely in there. I can feel her growing. She'll be strong and have a powerful no nonsense voice-just like her mother."

Zell smiled showing his beautiful teeth to Squall. "It's a girl? Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure she'll be as beautiful as you, too."

"Squall." They met each other's lips for a kiss. When they broke apart, Zell asked, "Can we go home now?"

Squall nodded and smiled a full smile. One that Zell had never seen until now. God it was a beautiful smile.

…

When they got back home to their shared room, Squall immediately began taking off Zell's clothes. Shopping bags were dropped to the floor and forgotten about. Zell's back was against Squall's solid muscled chest as Squall began sucking on Zell's neck. Not with his fangs though, the demon was able to control himself even when the blood reached the surface of Zell's supple flesh.

Squall even made sure his claws were sheathed so that when he stuck his fingers down his own pants, he swapped dark precum over his fingers and then rubbed them up and down Zell's beautiful crack.

The familiar feeling of being wet turned the blond on. He knew he needed to be fucked by Squall now. Zell turned around and took off the new shirt that Zell had picked out for Squall. He backed up on the bed and Squall followed him. Zell was eye level with Squall's waist and began unbuckling his new belt, and then taking off his jeans, revealing the huge bulge in squall's underwear that he knew would never cease to please him.

Zell was taken from his thoughts when Squall said suddenly, "I don't want to fuck you." Zell's cheeks turned red and his brows twitched with confusion. "I'd like to…try to make love to you…if you'll let me, Zell."

Zell smiled in understanding. "You were my first, Squall. I've never made love…but…I think we can figure it out together." Squall had no idea how special he made Zell feel just now. By wanting to explore something totally new and unpredictable was exciting to him.

Squall nodded his approval and lowered himself for another kiss. Zell rubbed his tongue all over Squall's sharp fangs. The danger of cutting his tongue on it excited him. When they broke apart, Squall said, "You're being bad. Trying to tempt me into doing something I'll regret?"

"No, but I trust you." Squall lifted Zell's legs exposing thin line of fabric from his white underwear that covered his beautiful wet entrance. Squall ran his fingers over that spot over the fabric, eliciting moans from his wife. He knew it was making Zell go crazy. Squall was going crazy himself, so he ripped Zell's underwear and lowered his upper body. Without warning he stuck his tongue in Zell's opening and began eating him out with ferocity.

Zell began screaming at the new sensation. He had to grab the bars of the bed on the headboard. Moments passed and Squall replaced his tongue with his fingers and began sucking on Zell. Zell's head was close to coming in Squall's mouth. Squall sensed this and began to stop. "I don't want you to come yet."

"Okay." Zell closed his legs, making Squall pull his fingers out of Zell's wet hole. Zell pulled Squall's underwear off and went down on the vampire's cock. Squall arched his back into Zell's throat. The blond had gotten better and better every time he gave Squall head. It pulsated in Zell's mouth dangerously twitching.

"That's enough of that. I need you now." Squall rolled Zell over on his side and hoisted one leg on his shoulder. "Sideways so that I can look at you," Squall explained with a scratchy voice.

Zell nodded his approval and waited for the intrusion of Squall's length. One forceful push and Squall went right in. That's how wet Zell was. A few thrusts and Zell was in heaven, moaning in absolute bliss. The thrusts received from Squall were slow and particular, unlike any other time before.

"Don't stop," Zell pleaded as his sweet spot was getting hit over and over, by Squall's massive organ..

Squall towered over Zell's lithe body, examining the color of his beautiful skin while still keeping the slow rhythm of his thrusts. "You're beautiful, Zell." Zell couldn't reply, he was too thrown in ecstasy on his side meeting Squall's thrusts. Squall smiled at his oblivious wife, glad that he could please him.

Squall leaned forward and turned Zell's face to towards him and captured his lips in a passionate kiss, sucking all over his blood-filled neck/shoulder and collarbone. Squall placed a free hand on Zell's flat muscled belly. "Mine."

His hand went lower and grabbed Zell's boyhood. They came together and Squall flooded his dark desire inside of Zell's tight passage. "…I love you, Zell." Zell was too exhausted to speak, but certain warmth was radiating from Squall, one he never felt when he was usually with his husband like this.

As Squall pulled himself out of Zell, he looked down at his deflating member, and the clear white gooey fluid that covered it. It was no longer black and toxic like it usually was. It had never been this color, yet Squall was too fatigued to care. He pulled Zell close to himself and closed his eyes.

Zell placed his hand on Squall's chest and smiled his answer. Before the lithe blond fell asleep, he could have sworn he felt a beating rhythm under his palm.

…

Something didn't feel right. Squall knew for sure today wouldn't be a regular day. He woke up with his scar piercing on his forehead. Squall looked down to his left and saw aqua blue eyes staring at him from through drowsy lids, beneath white sheets. "Morning, hubby." Zell smiled that toothy grin.

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He was getting a migraine. "Get dressed. We have work to do." Squall got up stark naked and walked to the bathroom and started their shower.

_I guess he's not a morning person,_ Zell thought.

…

Zell yawned for the fifth time that morning. It was only 10 o' clock and he was already bored with his new position. He was in the library of the castle going over politics with Laharl. Then, later on today he had training again.

"Those files will be shipped to Trabia once you've approved them. Whatever isn't approved put in a separate pile and we'll have that shipped out as well. The marble statues in the courtyard need polishing too. You can locate any of the slaves and delegate that as their job. It's best we do that as early as possible since Thanksgiving Dinner is arriving and the King would like those prepared for when the neighboring kingdoms revisit… Though perhaps you'd like a nap before all of this?"

Zell had been staring out the window at a pair of Squirrels fighting over an acorn, but immediately snapped back to reality when he heard 'nap'. "Huh? What?"

Laharl sighed and began scolding Zell. "Might I suggest that for the future, you get the appropriate amount of sleep required for your daily duties?" Laharl reprimanded while organizing another assortment of files.

"Sorry. I had a long day yesterday," Zell pitifully apologized. He had a lot on his mind, mostly about Squall. His feelings were becoming confused…

"I'll let it slide since today was just the first day," Laharl looked down at Zell's attire: ripped jeans that showed his thighs, with a huge belt buckle, and a sleeveless zipper hoodie. "You might want to consider dressing like a prince from now on too."

"I thought I could wear my regular clothes since no one can force me to do otherwise now. That's the perks of being a Hume prince."

Laharl rolled his eyes and was about to respond when the doors to the library burst open. In ran a soldier clanking towards the two politicians in a stressed state. "Your highness," he addressed Zell.

"Yeah what's up?" Zell asked very informally, making Laharl roll his eyes again.

"There is a disturbance in the foyer. There is a foreigner threatening our people."

"So just throw them out…" Zell suggested.

"He is too strong, your highness."

Zell sighed and looked to Laharl. "Come on," Laharl quipped. "Let's see what the fuss is about."

…

The sound of an armored body slamming against a wall rang through the giant foyer, followed by the sound of it clanking against the floor.

"I'll ask you one more time. After that, your people will start dying. Where _is_ he!" a familiar, yet dangerous voice found its way to Zell's ears. It couldn't be. Zell's footsteps kept him moving.

"And we'll tell you again. Leave now, and you will not be killed in foreign territory. He will not go anywhere with a cretin like you," Zell heard King Loire's voice try to reason.

"Have it your way."

The sound of metal could be heard being drawn, followed by the slicing of flesh, blood spilling on the ground, grunts, and yelps of pain. As Zell and Laharl swiftly rounded the corner at the top level, they looked down in the foyer and saw what the source of the sounds was.

About 6 of the kingdom's guards were on the ground, either holding their severed limbs or dead. One of them tried to get away, but a blond demon walked over to the pitiful crawling body and pierced through the armor with his gunblade. The guard no longer moved.

"STOP!" Zell screamed to the white coated murderer. The blond Hume and the violet haired assistant flew down the carpeted steps.

"Chicken? I knew I smelled you around here somewhere-that beautiful lilac scent…yet somehow it's different. It's stronger more deadly. I like it. So you decided to show yourself, rather than me having to slice my way towards you? Good choice." Seifer winked cheekily at Zell. Zell's eyes shifted down to the demon's shoes-Blood stained his boots and the hem of his coat as well.

Zell glanced up at where the king stood. Kiros and Ward were behind him ready to attack at any moment. His attention focused back on the killer in the trench coat.

"You're a cold blooded killer, Seifer," Zell declared through clenched teeth. People began gathering at the violent scene.

Seifer wiped the blood off of his cheek, causing it to smear across his face even more. "And why is that, Chicken?" He looked insane playing in the blood of his victims.

Zell never took his hateful glare off of Seifer. "I'm not going anywhere with you, you monster. The people here can only be nice for so long. Turn around and go back home." People watched the exchange between the two blonds in interest.

"Wow." Seifer applauded Zell, mocking him further. "You haven't learned by now, that I don't care about this filth," he said kicking a slain body through the air, emitting a bone shattering sound from the body when it had slammed against the wall. "I just care about getting what I want. And what I want is you. So go ahead and say goodbye to your little friends, and I promise you I won't hurt them…much." Seifer outstretched his arm waiting for Zell to come towards him.

Zell assumed a deadly fighting stance ready to kill this bastard. "You're insane."

Seifer began to laugh hysterically. He had to bend over using his giant sword for support so that he didn't fall on the ground laughing. "You can't be serious, Chickie. You wanna fight me?"

Zell was silent, Laharl took out his crossbow and prepared to fight as well. "Not just him, asshole."

"Careful, little one," Seifer warned Laharl. "I have no problem killing _you_. Chicken, however, I'll have to handle with care," Seifer said playfully, raising his gunblade.

"They're not going to fight you," a calm, icy voice from above could be heard.

Zell, Laharl and the King and his bodyguards turned to see Squall approaching. Seifer's lip curled. "Well isn't this the perfect family reunion," Seifer sneered, and trying to ignore the burning sensation in his forhead. "You all make me sick- you people and your rules and guidelines. You call yourselves vampires, but you're just a bunch of scared cowards, hiding in the sanctity of your precious castle!" Seifer spat the insult, his voice echoing off of the walls.

Seifer raised his sword in the brunet's direction. "Especially you, Squall. You make me sickest of all!"

"Just give up already. You're outnumbered," Zell suggested.

Squall stepped in front of Zell, blocking his vision from Seifer. He turned his back towards Seifer and grabbed Zell by the shoulders. "Zell, I want you to go back upstairs."

"Don't turn your fucking back on me, Leonheart!"

They both ignored the raging blond. "What why?" Zell asked offended.

"You know I can handle it. Trust me, I don't want you have to see me do this."

Zell looked over Squall's shoulder and saw the confused look on Seifer's face. They were married, which meant Zell didn't have to obey Squall anymore. And Squall wasn't telling Zell. He was asking. He looked back at Squall. "Okay."

Laguna called off Kiros and Ward. He sensed a rivalry between his son and this man, so he stayed out of it until he was needed. This was his son's fight and he would not interfere. However, he would sit back and watch.

After Zell looked in Squall's eyes, he realized what was about to happen. Squall was going to kill Seifer. Zell relaxed and realized that Squall wasn't about to let Zell help him fight. In fact, Squall didn't even want Zell to witness the gruesomeness that what was about to happen. Squall was going to destroy Seifer. He was going to maim his existence, and his body. He was going to make the man regret that he had ever even laid his disgusting green eyes on his Zell.

"Laharl, take him with you and make sure he's safe. I'm trusting you," Squall ordered his best friend.

"Aye, sir!" Laharl grabbed Zell by the arm and ran back upstairs.

As Zell followed Laharl blindly, he looked back and saw that Squall was approaching Seifer, his back turned to Zell. Zell looked further and Zell met Seifer's eyes this time. Seifer had his gaze upon Zell's retreating form, that cocky smirk on his face, as usual.

"So I see you've managed to convince him into letting you touch him," Seifer teased once Laharl and Zell were out of earshot.

"Yes, remind me of what he lets _you _do." Seifer held his cocky smirk waiting for Squall to go on. "Not only touch him, but marry me, kiss me, I can take him to my bed even, and Zell enjoys every minute of it." Seifer's lip twitched. "And he's having my child." Squall smirked at Seifer's fading smirk.

"You're a liar."

"But of course you had to have smelled it," Squall proved the statement true. "You didn't think he would be here almost a month and I would actually waste time trying?" Squall began laughing…actually laughing shocking many people in the kingdom. "I think it's quite funny how you thought you could come here and "rescue" him. Only to find out that it's too late. Sorry, but that look on your face is priceless."

Seifer regained his composure and raised his gunblade. "And after I kill you, I'll rip that baby right out of his stomach. Then fuck him in front of your whole family, just to show who's in control."

Squall drew his sword. "That's a pretty sick thing to say. Too bad I'm going to slaughter you before that can happen." Squall practically teleported and swung his huge blade for the first blow at Seifer's neck.

….

"Why won't he let me stay and help?" Zell complained as he was dragged down the corridors of the castle by Laharl.

"It's simple really. Squall doesn't want you to see him rip Seifer a new mouth to eat with. Not to mention you're pregnant."

Zell remained silent for a while. "You can let go now. I'm not a chi-"

BANG!

"Ahhhh! Fuck!"

Laharl flew backwards past Zell, whose head snapped almost as fast as Laharl flew. The purple haired demon flew down a flight of steps and a series of thuds and bangs were heard soon after. Before Zell could brace himself for what was next or even check to see if Laharl was still alive, the cocking of a rifle halted his movement.

"Get against the wall, Ellie and put your hands behind your head."

Zell saw him. Irvine, dressed in cowboy attire. "Irvine, why did you shoot him?"

"DO IT!" the auburn haired man barked.

Zell jumped and reluctantly did as he was told. Irvine took one hand off of his gun and used it to search Zell's body. "What are you looking for exactly?"

"I'm asking the questions here. Have you been harmed?"

"…No." Zell and Irvine's eyes locked onto each other for the first time. Without warning, Irvine crushed his lips against Zell's, making the short blond squirm against a wall of the corridor. Zell shoved Irvine off of him. "What are you doing!"

"I'm here to rescue you Ellie. I'm gonna take you home, you don't have to stay here with these monsters any longer!"

Irvine grabbed Zell's wrist and began to drag him away. Zell's feet followed in Irvine's direction for maybe three steps, but then something clicked in Zell's brain, causing the blond to stop in his tracks. "Irvine I can't go with you."

"What? If you have something here you have to leave it behind." The gunman continued to attempt to drag Zell away.

"No! It's not like that. I can't leave because I. I-I"

"Because what?" Suddenly a huge beast dropped from the ceiling behind Irvine. The cowboy had heard something land behind him and turned to see what it was, upon doing so he was knocked down the same flight of stairs Laharl had fallen down. Zell was left against the wall, the snarling beast hovering above him.

He saw the slow swing coming from a mile away and quickly managed to duck.

He couldn't fight this thing on his own. There was just no realistic possibility, especially unarmed. He had to get away, his life was in danger. Zell leaped across the floor avoiding another swing from the huge bear-like paw and flew down the same flight of steps Laharl and Irvine were shot down.

Werewolves? Where the hell did they come from?

He landed with trained ease and knelt at the two of their bodies and prayed that he would be able to carry them both off. But he could feel the beast following after him. There was no way he could get away fast enough if he were to carry the two unconscious bodies.

"Ellie get down!" Irvine yelled. The giant werewolf leapt down the stairs just like Zell, ready to attack all three of them and devour them right here. Zell did as he was told instinctively and Irvine stood up and blasted the wolf sideways, splattering its head all over the flush carpet.

Irvine walked over to the corpse and nudged it with his snake skin boot. "Alright no more wasting time-come with me," the cowboy ordered.

Zell bent down to help his violet haired friend, ignoring Irvine. "Laharl, can you walk?"

Laharl groaned in protest. "My shoulder…" was all he said. "It burns!" Zell touched the wound and felt the rough grainy material lodged in his shoulder. There was some sort of mineral mixed within the crimson blood.

"Wooden bullets?"

Another gunshot was heard startling Zell and he turned to see another werewolf fall to the ground lifeless.

"You tried to kill him Irvine? By shooting a wooden buller through his heart!" Zell accused.

"These are bad people. Leave him behind, Ellie. Let's go! It's not safe."

"I can't just leave him, Irvine! He's my friend."

"The werewolves followed us here, we have to go NOW!"

"Wait what do you mean us? Did you and Seifer come here together? Unfuckingbelievable! You're such a hypocrite."

"We share a common goal…" the gunman explained plainly.

"Zell, just get out of here. I'll be fine-here, take this." Laharl handed out his crossbow to Zell.

Before Zell could protest he was lifted in the air and dragged off, all he could grab on to was the crossbow. "Put me down Irvine! Now! Laharl!" Zell yelled after his bleeding friend.

All Laharl could do was watch the prince get dragged off by an enemy. The purple haired demon was no longer in Zell's sight as they rounded a corner. Zell kicked and screamed and clawed like a kitten at Irvine. "Ellie if you don't behave I'll have to tie you up and tape your mouth," the cowboy threatened putting Ellie down on his feet.

A plan immediately flashed across Zell's mind. Instinct took over and Zell twisted his body around so that Irvine was knocked off balance. Zell pinned Irvine to the ground in a grappling move. "What the fuck are you doing? Why are you making it so hard to fucking rescue you!"

Zell grabbed Irvine's arm, trying to disarm the man, he'd be easier to get away from without the gun. But the man was too clever and could fight at close range even with a long ranged weapon. Zell was flipped over on his stomach roughly and his arms were restrained behind his lower back. He was being handcuffed dammit!

"And how am I supposed to protect myself if my hands are tied, Irvine?"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to be insubordinate and attack me. Besides, you won't be harmed as long as I'm here."

"Oh rescuing the so-called whore?" It slipped out faster than Zell could control it. Irvine continued to guide the blond in the designated escape route. He could tell the familiar words had affected the marksman.

"You really want to bring that up right now? I'm trying to save your life, Ellie." Irvine reasoned.

"Save it for someone who'll ask for your help, Irvine," Zell bit. "And stop calling me that. I made that name up to start a new life, but since that's not possible, just forget about it."

Zell did not want to be around Irvine like this: Emotional and scared. He had wanted to forget about Irvine, but seeing the man so suddenly like this made those familiar feelings he once harbored for the man emerge again. "I'm always going to be here for you, Ellie. It's my job.

Tears began falling from Zell's eyes. The blond couldn't wipe away his tears with his hands behind his back, which sucked. "I could have sworn that your _job_ was a part time grill-boy in a hot dog shop. Not one of the top members in F.L.A.R.E."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, I'm sorry for being dishonest, and I'm sorry for the hurtful things I said, do you think you can forgive me?" Irvine begged.

Zell was barely listening to the man. He seemed as though he was trying to concentrate on something. "…El-Zell?"

Zell's voice was cracking, but he had come up with a plan. "Irvine, I'm done being angry with you, but still…I can't go with you. I'm sorry." Zell let his instincts take over. The baby's power began to protect him. Zell's irises turned black and his fingernails turned black as well this time, they also grew. Zell broke free of the tight rope around his wrists. He grabbed the unsuspecting Irvine and launched the marksman through the air and hitting a wall, his rifle landing several feet away from the cowboy. When Irvine got up he focused on Zell's eyes. It was Zell…but something was different, something wasn't right. He could instantly tell that that wasn't Zell anymore. "Stay away from me Irvine! I don't want to hurt you!" Zell growled.

Zell let his powers do all the work. His movement became animalistic and the blond ran off, faster than he normally would have if he were still fully human. A pack of dogs blocked his path. There were three of them, snarling and drooling ready to feed on the blond. Not gonna happen. Surprisingly Zell was the first to attack, leaping through the air and unsheathing his claws (non-implanted ones by the way). One of the werewolves did the same. Zell and the beast would collide…or not. Zell veered to the side slicing through the beast's tough flesh like butter. Zell landed on the ground but not before doing a front flip to break his fall. In a crouched position, he could feel the breath of the second beast on his neck before it even moved.

Zell flicked his wrist and sliced through the monster, splitting it in half. One left. For this one Zell rotated his body and smacked the beast in the jaw with his heel, eliciting a pitiful whimper. The beast was stunned on its side. Zell quickly dislocated the canine's spinal cord. Without hesitation, Zell ran down the hall back towards the Foyer…his mind completely on Squall.

Irvine sat on the ground wondering what the fuck had just happened.

**Laharl**

Pain traveled throughout the whole side of Laharl's body. Pain, pain, pain, followed by more and more pain. Laharl was trying to will his body to heal itself faster, but the wooden bullet was stopping his cells from regenerating properly. Laharl knew what the wood would poison him if he didn't pull it out quickly.

Fear crept into the violet haired vampire's mind as he heard clawed footsteps approaching him. The demon tried to move away from the approaching beast, but his thoughts were moving faster than his body would allow. He began to panic from thinking of the oncoming pain that would result from being eaten alive by a werewolf. How did they get inside in the first fucking place?

The foul creature drooled dumbly on the carpeted floor, and then blindly charged at the helpless demon. It was about to pounce on Laharl (who closed his eyes awaiting the gruesome pain that he knew would be inevitable). But it never came.

Laharl opened his eyes to a squelching yelp. The beast had been yanked from midair and dragged back. It landed on the ground and never moved again. The rattling of a chain could be heard. Laharl watched a dark figure make its presence known as it approached him.

The violet haired demon's eyes grew wide as he realized who was approaching him. "You…it's you…you're alive…"

**TBC**

**A/N: So I thought about making that lovemaking scene a deleted scene. But it had to do with the plot, so it couldn't be helped it had to stay. And plus it was touching to me so I kept it in there. Anyway, it's fun to be back writing again. Be on the lookout for the next chapter. A lot of you will hate me, but then you'll love me again so whatever happens just keep reading XP. And remember to review, I want to see some pay for my hard work. Lol jk I'll keep posting regardless.**


	20. Human

**Warnings: Language, Violence, **

**A/N: Wow my last update was sometime in July lol. Sorry for the long wait, school started and you know how that is…I am also working on getting my own apartment, so yay me!**

**Disclaimer: W00T! New disclaimer! I do not own any of the boys, places, or airships, or plot from any Final fantasy, although I will say that I and Zell do share Seifer…**

**Chapter 20: Human**

**Comfort**

The two rivaling vampires had been dueling to the death for just a few minutes now. Dozens of people watched on the sideline, including servants like Comfort, families of vampires and Hume families as well, knights who felt powerless compared to the grand scale of testosterone that collided with each other. Some people were seeing the prince fight up close for the first time, which awed them beyond verbal description.

Every time the two's swords collided with one another, sparks would fly around them. The flash of light that came from their blades made viewers flinch. More and more people seemed to be coming into the castle to watch by the minute. The pair drew various reactions from the crowd as they battled with grace, pride and also an equivalent hatred for one another. If Zell could just see his husband right now, he'd be amazed. Where was the little prince anyway? Comfort thought to herself, tearing her eyes away from the fight to look around for any signs of a spiky yellow head.

Squall was graceful in battle wielding that huge sword like it was a part of his soul or an extension of his being. The blond guy was rough and quick; his trench coat followed him everywhere he went adding to his warrior-esque factor.

Comfort assumed that this other guy fighting Squall was Seifer. Zell had mentioned him before as the one who had been hunting him from the very beginning. Turns out he was a pretty good swordsman as well. Seifer handled his blade with one hand while Squall had to use two. There must have been a weight difference. The battle didn't seem to be ending anytime soon. It seemed as though they could be in a stalemate for a long time.

Comfort, while still scanning the room for Zell, had noticed that there was something happening up on the balcony where the king was viewing. She saw a guard approach him with haste, he was delivering news it seemed. Whatever that news was must have been pretty important, or else why would Comfort see the king walk reluctantly away from his own son's fight. Something didn't feel right…

**Laguna**

Laguna watched his son with pride as he battled his nemesis. He had certainly been trained well, but then again so had this other man. It seemed like in just a blink of an eye, Squall had only reached up to Laguna's hip, now here he was: A man fighting for the pride of his wife. The king was proud.

The king was also sad. For he knew his son was weak. He could sense that his son's strength was not as it was before. This is what Laguna had feared most, but was becoming a natural reality, he had even warned Zell not to let Squall fall in love with him. The little human had obviously failed in his only mission.

But it couldn't be helped; Squall had found something precious and was awakened to a side that would change his view of the world completely. Of course, he knew all of this from personal experience…

As the fight grew on, a soldier with a sweaty forehead had reported to the king that werewolves were flooding the halls in various parts of the castle, killing residents of the palace and the vampires trying to match their quota. There were so many wars going on inside the castle it was on the verge of growing into chaos.

The king took one last glance at the battle before he followed his men deep into the castle to try and solve the problem. He could not watch the fight between his son and Seifer after all, his responsibilities were needed elsewhere.

"Kiros, lead team Alpha into the west and east wings of the castle. Ward and I will lead team Omega south and north and both of our groups will share the middle," the king commanded his nimble body guard.

"Aye, sir," Kiros saluted and flagged soldiers with him to the center of the castle. The group would split left and right once they got to the said halfway point.

Laguna and Ward continued away from the Foyer which was located on the south end of the castle; Right now that's where most of population was, watching the fight between the prince and Seifer. The massive body guard Ward heard something falling towards them. "Sir, above you!" Ward warned.

Ward stepped in front of his King, moving him to the side and smashed the falling werewolf's head in with his massive anchor, causing it to fly into the wall and knock over a portrait of the last supper. The beast hit the floor, muscles twitching and skull leaking blood.

"That was a close one, sir."

Laguna walked towards the twitching corpse and admired Ward's handy work. He had always been intrigued by his two bodyguards' completely different fighting styles. They were gruesomely unique.

With Ward, one could expect things like this: Smashed bones and unrecognizable faces even. With Kiros…Laguna smiled as he noted his favorite of the two bodyguards….we'll save that for another day.

Laguna ran his fingers through the mangy fur of the beast. He took his index finger and thumb and used his fingers to open the eyelid of the animal and came to a decision. "They come from the west," he deduced.

"How do you know that?" Ward inquired.

"Because these beasts get plenty of water from wherever they come from… I'm guessing they came from either Hillshire or Moontown. I can tell how much water they consume by looking into their eyes. And from the looks of it they get plenty. The question is why they came here…It is very possible it has something to do with that new comer fighting Squall downstairs. Could he possibly have led these wolves here?"

Ward nodded in approval. It sounded logical enough. "So what do we do now, sir?"

"The only option we have is to protect our kingdom. By doing that we kill the minions that we see and if we come across the leader, eliminate him as well. No questions, merely annihilation," Laguna closed out his statement by unsheathing his fangs and claws, preparing to soak his expensive robes in blood.

**Laharl**

Laharl's pain burned into his body again, reminding him of his loss of control. He looked at the man who glanced down at his suffering form, the newcomer said "I stopped living as a Human when the one I loved most was murdered right in front of me…you poor thing. Here, allow me to help." The Asian placed his hand on the wound, extracting all of the wood shavings from Laharl's arm.

The color traveled back to Laharl's face. He felt refreshed; better than before he had even gotten shot. Laharl curled away from the obviously overpowered man. "What are you?" he asked. The boy wasn't this powerful when they had met over a month ago. "Why are you helping me? I thought you were a member of that group…F.L.A.R.E…."

"I don't know...but it feels good. My body has grown both physically and mentally. I've been killing werewolves ever since that night…it's the only way I can stay strong, by bathing in their blood. It's like my body lives just for that sole purpose. I don't even need to eat or sleep sometimes. So don't worry: Killing you won't benefit me in any way, won't make me stronger…won't stop The Hunger, and I don't care about F.L.A.R.E. anymore."

"The Hunger?" Laharl asked.

"There are so many werewolves here," he continued on standing back up to full height.

"How did they get here?" Laharl asked standing on his feet as well.

"I'm not sure, but I think those two-the vampire and Irvine-they led them here so they could escape easier with Ellie."

"Ellie? You mean Zell?"

"He's using his real name now? It doesn't matter. What matters is ripping these beasts to shreds. I recon their whole town should be here by now."

Laharl's eyes grew wide in remembering his task.

"I need to get back to Zell. I'm supposed to be protecting him! Thank you for healing me-As long as you're against the werewolves, we're on the same side." Laharl turned to leave in pursuit of Zell's scent.

"I'm not on anyone's side…" the Asian muttered, but the violet eyed demon was already around the corner and out of ear-shot.

**Zell**

The little prince rushed faster and faster down the halls, in pursuit of his husband's scent. He could sense new things, mostly by his newfound keen sense of smell. He knew he wasn't fully a vampire, but the power that his unborn child gave him made him feel like one: Unstoppable. To a Hume who's vampire powers would wear off in a matter of moments, it was God-like. He didn't care if Squall could take care of himself. He didn't care if he, himself got hurt. What mattered was that he and Squall stick together as a team to help this kingdom. He knew he should be taking more precautions for his child, because Squall needed them both to be safe right now, but Zell only saw things his way at the moment, which made him irresponsible, but loyal.

Did his husband really think he could still push him around and boss him around? No…he couldn't, especially not after what the man said last night. Those three words enabled him to keep this power, by just having that simple knowledge Zell was encouraged to stand up to anyone who threatened his bond with the demon. Whether it was a friendship, a marriage or whatever it was in-between, Zell knew he would be loyal-If not for eternity then definitely for this moment where it mattered most.

The little prince found his way to an alcove that overlooked the foyer. Almost rushing of the railing that bordered the balcony from the ledge, Zell immediately saw the fight between his husband and Seifer. Seifer was about to take a final blow upon Squall, who looked like he had been losing the majority of the battle.

Zell crouched down low, aimed his crossbow and fired it at an alarming speed. It tore into Seifer's back with fury and staggered the man for a brief moment. The tall warrior grunted in a pissed off fashion and tore the arrow from the front of his chest. He scanned the room for the source of the attack.

His masculine face went from an expression of confused anger, to smug pleasure. "Chickie-baby."

…**..**

Something wasn't right. It shouldn't have been this difficult to fight Seifer. Squall felt his energy wearing thin-his strength was leaving him. Somewhere into the fight, Squall had lost his ability to even keep up with Seifer. He was covered in sweat and his scar was beginning to hurt even more painfully. Seifer's blade grazed Squall's shoulder causing blood to shoot from his arm. It was okay, he'd regenerate in a few moments. So the brunet kept fighting, ignoring his fatigue and his vision was becoming blurred due to his blood loss. He could still feel the pain in his shoulder and his movements became slower. Seifer was fighting like everything was normal. What was happening to him? Why weren't his powers working! Why weren't his wounds healing? He felt obsolete.

Squall had eventually been knocked on his ass with a quick roundhouse from his opponent. He tried to get up, but even that had become a challenge. The crowd gasps at Squall's decline in the battle. He was their hero and he was fighting with hopelessness. Blood dripped on the ground around him mixed with his own sweat. His hair hung in front of his forehead, wet and damp. Squall could feel the footsteps of his rival approaching him. Seifer looked down at him in disgust before ramming his boot into Squall's stomach. Squall rolled on his side from the blow and began coughing up blood, all the while fighting to stay conscious.

"Wow. This aint lookin' to good for you now is it, buddy?" Seifer remarked. "Everyone can see what has happened here. Look everyone, your prince is a Hume!" Seifer roared with laughter. "Did you really think you could defeat me in that pathetic form?"

Squall grimaced at Seifer's boots while still retching. He had become a Human? How? When? Why? He was born undead, but now everything hurt and he felt scared…is this what it felt like for Zell?

"I'm not surprised actually. _He _did this to you. This is what happens when you fall in love, you die because you're weak. Don't worry though. I'll end this quickly, because I feel fucking sorry for your ass" Seifer said while raising his gunblade. Before he could bring it down and arrow stuck through Seifer's chest causing him to drop his sword and it clanged to the ground. The blond doubled over in pain, but pulled the arrow out without hesitation and with little effort. Blood splattered on Squall. Seifer's wound immediately closed. The blond turned around and saw the little figure on a balcony standing with no fears

"You're gonna have to practice your aim if you wanna hit my heart, Chicken." Everyone in the room turned their attention towards Zell. Comfort began to worry. The blond jumped off of the balcony and landed a few feet away from Seifer without even getting hurt or barely bending his knees. The crowd, who had naturally formed a circle in the circular room, had taken several steps back to welcome the new addition to the scene that was unfolding before their eyes.

"I didn't miss, that was a warning shot. I don't want to have to kill you because I don't like killing, but if you keep hurting him, then I will have no other choice. I'm stronger than I was before, next time I won't miss."

Seifer discarded the bloody arrow to the side and reclaimed his gunblade again. "I see what's going on here. The prince loses his powers, and the princess gains his. How romantic. Let's see…how did he do it?" Seifer asked while circling the blond, examining every angle of his eternal prey. "Did he experiment on you? Did he bite you? No! He fucked you so many times, you became a vampire. That's it right? Guess it didn't take that long for him to turn you into his personal slut, now did it?"

Seifer was unprepared for the kick that hit him square in the face, breaking his nose. "SHUT UP!" Zell warned. The man hadn't expected that at all since Zell's back was facing Seifer.

Seifer fixed his nose back into place and wiped the blood from around his face. "So you wanna fight? Is that it? Fine, I'll give you what you want. Don't worry I'll go easy on you-doesn't mean I won't teach your ass a lesson, though."

"Well guess what, asshole. I'm not gonna go easy on _you_." In a flash Zell's lightning quick reflexes had Seifer pinned to the ground, scratching at the man's body, biting and slashing. Seifer pushed the boy off of him with his brute strength. Zell flew upwards but landed with spiderlike agility.

Seifer got up, his clothes torn and he himself covered in scratches, bites andblood. "Zell stop! Stay out of this." Squall called from behind his wife barely able to stand on his feet. "I don't want to see you get hurt!"

Zell's eyes moved to Squall's. "Squall, Stop worrying about me and just help me take him down! We're a team now!"

Squall got up and realized that he didn't have any other choice. He couldn't boss Zell around anymore. They were married. He should have realized that when he sent him off with Laharl in the first place. Where was Laharl anyway? Squall could feel his strength coming back to him now. Seifer could feel it too. The scar on the blond's forehead began to burn intensely again.

A team? Seifer thought. "This should be interesting," Seifer smirked loving all the drama that was building. "Prepare to get destroyed." Zell and Squall had Seifer trapped on both sides. Zell began firing at Seifer in rapid succession, reloading his bow faster than any human ever could. Seifer hit each arrow that came after him with exact precision, deflecting them with his sword. As the smirking demon deflected each arrow with ease, Squall took the initiative and attempted to hack away at the other vampire, but Squall still wasn't as fast as he needed to be and his blows were deflected as well.

Zell stayed at a safe distance, but managed to keep up with Seifer's movement and at the same time not shoot Squall in the back in the process. The little half-vampire was beginning to run out of arrows, and he felt his powers fading as well. If his demonic strength were going to leave him soon, then he needed to act fast before it was _completely_ gone. Zell looked down for half of a second to reload again, but what he heard above him brought his head back up.

Squall was being shot at by Irvine. Dammit! Squall deflected the bullets with his sword, causing flakes of chipped wood fly off of his blade. "Squall, get back!" Zell warned. "His bullets can kill you. They're working together. He shot Laharl!"

Squall identified the gunslinger as the boy that Zell had been living with prior to being brought back to Esthar. Great, another person's ass to kick. Squall would have to start making a list pretty soon.

Irvine cocked his shotgun and began speaking. "We've come for the human. I'm sure you're well aware of that. Those were also just warning shots. Now hand Zell over to us."

"What the fuck!" Seifer exclaimed with his face scrunched up in disgust. "If I had come here to settle things diplomatically I would have brought my Abe-Lincoln wig. I came here to kill him and I'm not leaving until I do!" Seifer barked at his partner.

Irvine slid down the railing of the staircase and joined in the circle that the crowd had formed.

"Irvine, stay out of this!" Zell warned, unsheathing his claws. "Why are you working with this asshole anyway?"

"Common interests," the gunslinger murmured.

"I'll kill him for you, Zell. It'll be easy. You want me to?" Squall offered referring to Irvine.

Before Zell could reply, there was an eruption of screams from the crowd, people began flying through the air from being hit by huge claws, blood splattered from their wounds, making red rainbows as they soared. They slammed into walls and landed on the ground in pools of gore. Werewolves had broken into the foyer. Dammit, Zell had been so worried for Squall he had forgotten to warn anybody about them.

People ran in every direction trying to find a safe location. Most stayed and tried to fend for themselves and their families. There were a total of six of the beasts in the large room. They had probably been attracted by all the sounds and smells of blood. One of the werewolves had leaped in the air towards a group of vampires, but was stopped short, appearing as though it were hovering above the steps. Then it was ripped into two pieces, squirting blood to the sides. The people were safe and took this opportunity to run away. Irvine narrowed his eyes in recognition of the warrior's handy work. "Nida? What are you doing here?" He asked his blood covered best friend who had been missing for weeks.

"I'd ask you the same, but it's pretty obvious...behind you!" Irvine heeded Nida's warning and blasted the beast that tried to sneak him from behind.

Squall felt faint all of a sudden. A wolf was charging at the weak prince. Zell's reflexes sparked and in under a second he was in front of his husband and kicked the werewolf's face into its own skull. It slid across the floor smashing into a few people. Comfort decided it was time to get her ass out of here. The fun was over and she needed to go lock herself in her room.

3 werewolves left. Comfort practically fought her way to the door that would lead outside to the courtyard. From there she could run across and get to the Hume quarters. Closer and closer to the exit, her heart dropped into low temperatures as she felt a shadow suddenly looming over her. She was trapped. A stupid pot with a plant in it blocked her sides and panicking people blocked her back.

Zell's pulse raced as he watched the werewolf stand on its hind legs and prepare a swing at Comfort. The impact would surely kill her. Zell charged with lightning speed as he pushed comfort out of the way. The blond and the raven haired Trabian slid across the floor of the foyer to safety (for now anyway). The werewolf realized what happened and chased them down. Zell hadn't been very smart in getting himself and Comfort to safety. He had slid them into a corner.

Zell would have fought the beast head-on but his powers had left him completely now and he had dropped his crossbow sometime between running and landing. It was probably broken. Zell would have no choice but to jump in front of Comfort and shield her, giving her enough time to get away. He gulped down the anticipation of the pain that would surely come and prepared to get eaten alive, or all of his bones broken-either way he was about to die selflessly for his only friend.

He closed his eyes and awaited the bite…the scratch? The gouge? Nothing. Nothing came. Zell opened his eyes and he felt relief. But the relief was nothing compared to how much guilt he felt when he saw Squall blocking the bite with his own arm. Zell protected Comfort and Squall protected Zell. Squall could actually feel the pain of the beast's jaws ripping into his tendons and almost snapping the bone in his forearm.

A gunshot was heard from across the foyer, and blood splattered out of the werewolf's back. Irvine was firing away but the mongrel wouldn't let go. The cowboy wanted the beast away from Zell. Nida was off fighting two other werewolves at the same time. Where had Seifer gone?

The creature was obviously blinded by rage and was numbing itself to any significant amount of pain. Zell had snapped to his senses finally. If the werewolf's jaw was locked onto Squall, then he would pry his mouth off of his husband's arm.

"Squall, I'm going to remove his jaw from-"

**!SSCHHLAK!**

Zell had never finished that sentence. There was no need to…for several reasons. One of them had been that the werewolf had let go finally and dropped to the floor. The other being that the blade of a steel sword had come out of Squall's back somehow and Zell thought he would have been stabbed in the face so he had been interrupted due to shock. Blood stained cheeks; the little prince stared at the tip of the sword between his own two eyes, making him stare cross-eyed.

Then in an instant the metal blade was gone, and Squall fell to the floor. "No!" Zell screamed dropping with his husband. From that moment on everything was in slow motion for the blond. The beast that had gnawed Squall's arm and Squall had fallen together practically, though the beast was killed instantly. Squall on the other hand was still suffering. Seifer flung the blood off of Hyperion with a suave movement of his arm. He had finally done it. He had finally killed Squall Leonheart. Chicken could be his forever now.

Zell held Squall up; the chocolate haired man just stared at the chandelier of the foyer. It was beautiful and shimmered, like the goddess whom he was in love with. Where was he anyway? Ah, there he is. Oh no, he's crying. I must have done something to upset him again. Haha, I do that a lot it seems. I suck at making him happy…

"Squall? Squall! Squall, dammit answer me!" Zell cried giving his husbands face a few mild smacks.

Cold, pale lips parted and Squall finally answered with a dry distant voice. "Zell? I'm bleeding to death. Get out of here or you're going to get your pretty clothes all bloody."

"Squall, why aren't you healing? I don't understand. You're invincible you're not supposed to die!" Zell pleaded.

"…couldn't you see it?" Squall asked with a smile on his face. "I became a human so I could fall in love…with you, I fell in love with you to become a human. I love you."

"No, it's not supposed to happen like this! You're my prince! Oh god oh god! SHIT! someone do something!" Helplessness settled into Zell's frantic mind as tears streamed out of his ocean blue gems and down his baby chin. Squall placed a gloved hand on Zell's cheek. The blond could feel the leather against his own soft skin. He placed his hand on Squall's and nuzzled his face into the touch. "Please! I'm begging you! You can't leave us alone with them!"

"You have to fight, Zell," Squall was on his last few breaths now. "Keep fighting, and stay you. Keep…cough…smiling. That's how I knew you were the one. Because you're always smiling and you…cough…"

"Shhh," Zell urged. "Save your breath."

"See what I mean: Always putting others before yourself, even when your back is against the wall. I'm sorry I didn't treat you better…" His head rolled to the side and Squall's eyes closed forever.

Zell's eyes grew wide in terror at that last statement. "No! No! Don't! I can bring you back! Just hang on a little longer!" Zell tried to make fangs come out of his mouth, but it wasn't working. He tried and tried and tried, but no one, not even his baby would help him save Squall. There were no doctors around. Everyone had been wounded, eaten, or ran off/were running off somewhere.

Comfort watched the sad scene that took place mere inches away from her. She even spared a tear from her shimmering orbs. She watched as Zell wept and hated herself for not being able to do anything for her friend.

She looked from Zell to Seifer and saw the smug look on the murderer's face. He had just killed the prince of Liore kingdom. He was now an enemy of the state for sure. They would be after his head once people found out. And then that smile would be wiped away clean.

Irvine stood at a safe distance where he thought the emotion wouldn't affect him. But distance didn't matter. Seeing Zell break down like that, put him in an awkward place. Regardless of whether the cowboy wanted to admit it or not, or regardless of what his job description was, he had just partaken in the killing of one of Zell's friends. And even though he hadn't dealt the final blow, he was just as much at fault.

Laharl had come around the corner. Upon the sight of his best friend transformed into a human, dead and cold on the ground with a knife wound through his heart, rage overcame him. The veins in his eyes filled dark with black blood and anger. He took out his crossbow and fired at Seifer immediately in rapid succession with only one hand, disregarding the "hows" and the 5 Ws. He didn't care how, when, where or why this happened. Seeing Seifer's sword covered in blood and Squall's body lifeless on the ground with blood around it was all it took to unleash something foul within the violet haired demon.

An anguished scream erupted from his thin frame and dark tears seeped from the corners of his eyes. Seifer was having trouble deflecting the arrows and a couple stuck him in his shoulders. "Dammit," he cursed. The white trench coated murder decided he needed to get the fuck out of there.

Seifer ran as fast as he could and jumped out of a stained glass window, but not before taking a few more arrows in the back and leaving behind curse words in his trail. As long as the shots all missed his heart he would be fine. Laharl was about to hunt the man down; climb out the window and hammer more shots into the bastard. A second later he felt like needles had been stuck into his spinal column. He fell limp to the ground and appeared to just be sleeping.

"That should keep him down for a while," the Asian deduced. He turned to Irvine and said, "If you weren't my friend I wouldn't be helping you. Get out of here, they'll be looking for all the people involved in the prince's death…and more importantly the kidnapping of the one still living."

Zell looked up with red eyes and caught on to what was happening.

"What about you?" Irvine asked.

Nida gripped his whip and said, "I'm gonna stay here and help clean up this mess." With that he turned around and ran off looking for more dogs to kill.

Irvine wasted no more time. He grabbed Zell, who did not want to leave his dead husband's body in the middle of the floor, and dragged the blond off. Comfort grabbed onto Zell by instinct. Her friend wasn't leaving her sight. With that the three were out of the front door with no one to stop them.

**A/N: I already have the next chapter finished. So you won't have to wait as long for the next update! Feedback!**


	21. Evil Results

**The Most Dangerous Game ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**A/N: For those of you who were upset with how the last chapter ended, keep reading please. You haven't seen anything yet…*devil grin***

**Chapter 21: Evil Results**

All along the steep steps of the rocky paths of Esthar mountain, Zell was being dragged further and further down a never ending rabbit hole. A rabbit hole that stretched on for eternity and only became colder and lonelier the deeper it got. Where did it lead to? Not wonderland, that was for sure. It was more like a path to the very depths of Zell's own despair.

Zell's tears traveled along his cold cheeks and flew into the bitter wind behind him. The blond had been running for about a good straight seven minutes. He didn't realize that he was running in a group until they stopped and he had a chance to catch his breath and look up at his surroundings.

There were his two "rescuers", Seifer and Irvine who seemed to be the leaders, But everyone knows there can be only one alpha male in a pack. Then there was Comfort, and four other Humans that Zell wasn't familiar with or didn't recognize. One of them was a child, the other a muscular servant with dark spiky hair who seemed to have a rebellious demeanor, and the last two seemed to be a pair of not-so-twin like (One a boy, the other a girl) siblings. They looked alike, but were probably a few years apart. When they felt that they were a safe distance away from Liore Kingdom, Irvine stopped the group to recharge their energy. It was a good thing all the humans here were in shape from either training or labor; if they had stopped any sooner due to fatigue, their chances of survival would have dropped when the werewolves caught up to them.

Zell leaned against a rocky wall and breathed deeply while trying to keep his sobs at bay. _Where the hell had all these other people come from?_ He thought bitterly to himself. Comfort sensed the hurt radiating off of him and stood a few feet away from him against the same wall, but still gave him his space. A person reacted one or two ways after losing someone close to them. They either reached out for closeness, or pulled away from human contact. Zell seemed to be in the middle right now. He needed someone to talk to but, she knew he wasn't ready, and he probably wouldn't be ready anytime soon.

"Why are we stopping? Those things'll catch up to us if we don't keep moving!" the muscular spiky headed survivor exclaimed.

"If they wanted to catch up to us they would have a long time ago. They've forgotten about us and are probably battling against your kingdom…besides, your friends need to rest. The smell of your fear is overwhelming me…" Seifer took a disgusted step back from the rest of the group, reminding everyone that he was a vampire.

"We appreciate you saving us, but what are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go, man?" One of the wiry twins asked frantically. It was the boy. He wore glasses and the girl that Zell assumed was his sister clung to his side and bit her nails nervously.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to head to the next available station. It's on the outskirts of the Esthar nation not too far north. We'll head to the heliport and from there I can radio my base and request a lift back to headquarters in Galbadia. From there we'll get you back to your families," Irvine explained calmly.

Quiet sniffles could be heard somewhere. Everyone's attention was turned to the smallest member of their little group: the little boy. He had jet black hair, about 8 or 9 years of age. Seifer crossed his arms and looked at the ground shaking his head. The situation was fucked up…

In an attempt to break the awkwardness and quiet down the innocent, Comfort left her position on the wall next to Zell and approached the little boy. She crouched down to his level and said, "Hi! I'm Comfort. What's your name?" she asked in her most grown up voice.

"Nuke."

Comfort's eyes glazed to the right. "Ummm…that's an interesting name. Do...you have another name?" The little boy shook his head. Everyone gave each other strange glances. Zell, still leaning against the same wall, arms crossed, watched the scene go on with very little interest. "…Okaay…Nuke it is." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't cry we're going to get you home, no worries. Do you remember where you live? Are your mommy and daddy back at the castle?"

"I don't have any parents."

"Okay…well why don't you tell us where you live and we'll take you home."

"My house is that way."

Nuke pointed back towards the direction of the castle, Comfort and others frowned. This boy must have been bred into servitude. His "home" was back at Liore Kingdom…

"Did you two happen to realize that that palace was actually a home to some of us? Did you consider that when you were plucking people from off of the streets?" The tall muscular one quipped in Seifer and Irvine's direction.

"You should be thanking us! You ungrateful brat!" Seifer barked.

"Cool it," Irvine tried to calm Seifer's annoyance. "It was too dangerous for anyone to stay back there. We'll talk about what happens to us on the way. But let's find shelter before the sun drops. My name's Irvine by the way."

Comfort stood up to her regular height. "Comfort."

The skinny one with glasses introduced himself as Zack, and his younger sister Tara.

"I'm Russel," the muscular one confirmed.

"Seifer...and over there is…well I like to call him Chicken-Wuss, but his name is Zell."

Zell had barely been paying attention to anyone's names, or the fact that people were introducing themselves. He didn't notice that Seifer had also called Zell by his real name for the first time…with sincerity.

Irvine wanted to glance in Zell's direction, but couldn't. He was too afraid to be met with accusatory glares

"His name is Zell?" Russell asked. "As in the Prince Zell Dincht? The one who defeated Princess Caraway and married the Prince?" Everyone's attention was completely on Zell now. Seifer could be seen and heard sniggering in the background at having heard this information aloud.

"Yeah, that is him!" the sister of the skinny boy exclaimed. "He's human like us!"

Zell raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? You should be back at the castle!" The brother asked.

"You could call someone to help us," Russell proposed.

Irvine had to put an end to the silly wishing. "He can't do anything because he's no prince, okay? He's a survivor now like the rest of you. Just give him some space."

"Where's you guys' airship. You couldn't have walked and swam to this continent. Why don't we just use the helicopter to get back?" Comfort inquired trying to take the focus off of Zell.

"…It's a long story…" was all Irvine felt like saying.

"Your genius leader here forgot to service the engine…The End…." Seifer finished.

Irvine turned beet red. "Okay so it's a shorter story than I thought. Regardless…we're walking."

The whole group groaned and sighed in annoyance at the thought of walking and being led by an idiot.

"Alright let's go!"

**Fujin**

It had been weeks since Fujin had seen or heard from Seifer, weeks since that night in the park and weeks without having someone to talk to. The one-eyed loner had been wandering the streets of Deiling one night, fed up with the boredom of the four walls of her motel. While in her motel prison she realized that before she met Seifer, she was entirely independent and used to being on her own. That's the bad thing about friends, she decided. When you lose them you feel emptier than before.

She sat on the edge of a wishing fountain just watching people go by. Friends, family, co-workers…everyone had someone to interact with, but not her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a door to a store open. Someone familiar was coming out of it…Selphie?

Fujin had thought the loudmouthed spunkmiester had died in that cave. But apparently she was alive. Although she could have looked better; she had red bags underneath her eyes and her clothes were wrinkled along with her hair being pulled back into a short ponytail.

Fujin was no feminine expert, but she could have sworn girls put in a little more effort when they went out in public. Aside from that irrelevant fact, Fujin could still sense something was wrong. Without thinking, the white haired girl got up and approached Selphie without a hint of stealth so as not to shock the brunette.

"Hi…you remember me?"

"Fujin? You're alive!"

"I was going to say the same thing...How've you been?"

The girl gave a weak-genuine, but still weak-smile. "I've been really tired ever since that night. Haven't really spoken to anyone or hung out with my friends. Quistis is dead..Nida is missing…and Irvy…"

Fujin wanted to ask the question that had been burning inside her head for the past 30 seconds, but just couldn't bring herself to say it. Fujin looked in the girl's arms and noticed she was carrying a bag with only one item in it. A small box it looked like. Fujin looked at the store Selphie came out of and noticed that it was a drug/pharmacy store.

Selphie noticed Fujin's gears clicking together and decided she had to abruptly end the conversation. "Well I have a test to get ready for in the morning. Just getting some last minute caffeine supplies. I gata go, so stay outta trouble kay?" Then she was gone before Fujin could reply. Something just wasn't right.

…**Meanwhile**

The group trailed along the rocky paths for the remainder of what daylight offered. When dusk settled, Irvine led the others to a secluded area for the group to rest. Seifer scowled to himself at the fact that he had to stop because the Humes were too weak to travel long distances on foot. They were slowing him down like cigarettes slowed down Humes.

The girls in the group had begun complaining about being filthy. A few feet away, running water could be heard. There was a stream with fresh water. Not wanting him to be on his own (either with Irvine or with Seifer) Comfort took Zell with her. Nuke had also tagged along.

"I can see the stream from here!" The dorky boy's sister exclaimed. Tara was her name if Comfort remembered correctly. She was beautiful. She had curly jet black hair and an ivory face to go with it. You could tell by her mannerisms that she wasn't used to roughing it like this. She was one of the wealthier servants of the kingdom like Comfort, except she was a lot more frail and dainty.

Tara ran ahead to the stream. Nuke did what a child would naturally do, and followed her…

"Ladies, slow down!" Irvine warned.

"You can't follow!" Tara protested. "Ladies first! We need our privacy. We'll let you know when we're done!"

"Um, it's not going to work like that," Irvine declared.

"Hey, chill man. Give them their privacy," Seifer advised, and put his hand up to halt Irvine from intruding on their privacy. Partly because Seifer wanted to show everyone who was really calling the shots, without having to declare it directly. Also, because he didn't want Irvine to see Zell naked (especially when he, Seifer, had not had the luxury of doing so yet).

Irvine used his better judgment and listened to Seifer. The vampire was right, though Irvine hated himself for admitting it. If there was going to be respect and trust among the group, he needed to start forming it early. "Fine just don't take too long, guys…"

"We won't!" Tara called back reassuringly.

Comfort and Zell continued walking at their own pace and found a spot at the river, a little further down from where Tara and Nuke were. Comfort had glanced over in their direction and saw that those two had already stripped and begun bathing. The black dancer warned Nuke not to wander too far as he played in the water before moments later turning to Zell and asking, "Zell…are you-"

"No, Comfort….I'm not okay…"

Comfort inwardly kicked herself. "It's just that I never got a chance to check on you." Zell stared at the water looking for his reflection next to Comfort's but couldn't see it. "'M sorry bout what happened to Squall." Zell didn't reply. He just sighed and began removing his shoes.

"I can't believe that they actually killed him…" Zell finally said. Comfort took off her gloves and listened. "I mean it's just not fair…I never cared about anyone, the way I did about him. And Seifer and Irvine, they just…erased him from my life…from existence."

When she felt that he was done speaking for the moment, she asked "How did he die? I mean he was a vampire…"

Zell was finally completely naked and submerged his body in the water. Comfort became fully naked too and got in the water with Zell, trying not to scream at the almost freezing chill. _How the hell did he get into the water without showing discomfort?_ She wondered.

"The king had told me after the wedding to not let the prince fall in love with me. I think that has something to do with it…" he deduced.

"love…" Comfort repeated through almost shivering teeth.

"I don't know…he said it made him mortal. So, he didn't need to die the conventional vampire way, i.e. through the heart. One deathly blow was all it took from someone who was stronger than him…it's all my fault."

"No!" Comfort snapped. "It's ain't your fault that Squall fell in love with ya. I'm sure his father must've told him about us Humes many times over. He knew the risks, and he was ready to pay for them as long as it meant protecting you. Blamin' yourself puts his sacrifice to waste, right?"

"This never would have happened if I hadn't involved myself with Irvine," Zell decided.

"I'm sure that after they're done with that battle up there, Laguna is going to send troops to look for you."

"I'm not going back!" Zell said strongly. "If Squall's not there what reason is there for me to sit on the throne?"

"But, ya know you'd be safer there than wit Irvine. It's scary for me to even imagine what he has in store for you when you get back to Galbadia. I say we take care of 'em now. Tonight. Slit his throat, while no one is looking," Comfort said devilishly.

Up until now, Zell had thought it was wrong to have thoughts like that, but Comfort was showing him otherwise

"The hatred burns inside of me too, you know. I was taken from my family to work at that castle at a young age." Zell's friend placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "You do what you need to do, but just don't forget who you're fighting for, and who you need to protect." She was referring to his and Squall's baby.

Zell sighed and responded, "I'll deal with it when it comes. For now, let's just get our asses off of his mounain."

…**..**

When the girls, Zell and Nuke left to go bathe, Irvine felt like he had been stuck babysitting the other boys. The brother to one of the girls, Zack, was fidgeting in the corner while trying to tolerate useless banter from the tall muscular one, Russell.

Seifer had decided to massage his apparently aching hands, or so it seemed…he was sitting a few feet away from the other two humans and looked a little annoyed. Well, appearing to be annoyed was part of his demeanor, but when he actually _was_ annoyed it was very apparent.

Irvine was trying to figure out ways to deal with the current situation and hoped that the sun would hurry up and go through its cycle already. As soon as dawn broke, he wanted to lead everyone out of this area and to the way-point as quickly as possible, which if he estimated right would be less than half a day.

He had instinctively gone into rescuer mode after the defeat of Squall Leonheart. As soon as he had managed to "rescue" Zell, there was no shaking off Comfort who had followed them into the mountains. Irvine had saved several other people, while he fled. Tara, Zack, Russell and Nuke. He had dragged them out of that situation back at the castle. A part of himself regretted it, yet there were still more pros than cons to the situation.

With this many people around right now, it was easier to dodge accusing glares from Zell, and Irvine didn't have to be stuck with just a cocky Seifer and a silent hating Zell. Also, saving lives was always the right thing to do as long as he wasn't risking his or his target's/Zell's. Getting Ellie back to Deiling city was priority and if it meant that he couldn't save _everyone_, then the gunslinging warrior would have to prepare himself for that, mentally and emotionally.

He was basically a soldier, so emotions (no matter how strong) could not get in the way of his ultimate mission. Besides, he had muscle on his side in case he encountered any real dangers. Seifer was excellent with the blade, regardless of how much Irvine hated him and conjured up ways to eliminate him later, he had to give the demon his props where they were due. Also, Ellie had recently begun to display some form of power. Even though the boy seemed to be able to defend himself as of late, he still couldn't risk the blond dying. Irvine had to protect him at all costs, his life was more important than any of the other survivors he had brought with him.

And that's not _just _because of personal reasons (i.e. Irvine's infatuation for the blond), but also for professional reasons as well. The cowboy's commander: Martine (headmaster of Galbadia) needed Irvine to get the Human back to that school safely and secure. Those were his orders at top priority.

Irvine thought hard on Zell's abilities for a while. They were definitely beneficial for now, but once they got back to Deiling he knew the blond would eventually have to be looked at by a proper doctor. And the underground lab at the University would want to have a look at him as well. How exactly would this turn out? He wondered…

"Well I'm gonna go look around," Russell announced when he had concluded his one-sided conversation with Zack. Irvine gave a nod of approval and began to gather firewood; it wasn't like he cared what the muscle headed guy did. He was the strongest of the Human survivors anyway; he could probably take care of himself if it really came down to it.

….

When the girls, Zell and Nuke were done freshening up they began to make their way back up the hill to the campsite. "I just realized how much I don't want to go back up there," Zell said to Comfort as they walked up the steep slope.

"Try not to think about it," Comfort suggested, knowing that it would be impossible.

They had ran into Russell on the way back up. He said something about dinner being ready soon and went back towards their campsite.

Zell sighed and continued talking. "They killed him, Comfort. I'm not a killer….at least not a cold blooded one…."

"But ya have all those cool powers. You used em to beat Rinoa, remember? We were so worried about how you would survive, but somehow you can use the same powers as the vampires. And this time it's personal. Seifer and Irvine crossed a line, you'll know what to do with them when the time comes. I'm sure of it!"

Zell listened to Comfort's words as he locked eyes with Seifer when they emerged on the hill. Seifer smirked at the two coming up the hill and then went back to sharpening his blade on his rock.

_That Bastard!_

That single smug glance was enough to set Zell into a tattooed frenzy. Zell kept his glare on Seifer even when the gunblader wasn't looking at him. He wanted his gaze to pierce the man's heart and rip him to shreds. Who the fuck did he think he was? Taking lives left and right killing without mercy? Zell could feel his pupils beginning to dilate and the darkness taking over his soul like it had so many times before. The urge to rip the demon to shreds became unbearable. Right when he was about to let it consume him completely…

"Zell, your nose…"

The blond snapped back into reality and looked at his surroundings in a discombobulated fashion. He felt the red liquid dripping from his right nostril and into his mouth, the taste of metallic crimson offending his palette.

"You okay?" Irvine asked. The cowboy was standing in front of the spazzed out blond holding firewood and had a concerned look on his face.

Zell wiped the blood away on the back of his hand and looked at what appeared to be a smeared canvas. He looked at Irvine, and then looked back at where Seifer had been sitting. The man had disappeared from his spot on his rock. "I'm fine…" Zell replied plainly and walked away.

He was okay really, he just almost lost control. He almost did what he should have done…

…**Later that night**

The night had fallen upon the group completely now. The small group of survivors sat around a warm campfire. Nobody could sleep that night. Even if they could sleep, would they really want to? They were too scared to let their guard down, too shaken from the event earlier at Liore kingdom to close their eyes. Anything could be lurking on this cold path...anything. They all sat around. Some were talking, others ate dinner, some told stories to keep each other entertained and/or awake. Nuke, however seemed to have no problem sleeping. He was fast asleep with his head on Comfort's lap. Zell watched him with amused envy. That was the meaning of being a child: To be infinitely innocent and have no real worries in the world. _Stay young forever, kid," _Zell thought. _"Because growing up sure sucks monkey balls_."

Russell was in the middle of an intense sports story from his high school days. Seifer and Irvine listened to him, but the siblings Tara and Zack didn't seem too interested in that sort of thing so they both played a monotonous game of tic-tac-toe in the dirt.

Zell's vision never left the fire that danced in front of them. He had been numbing everything around him all day, and he didn't seem to want to sleep either (even though he was tired as hell). He needed to stretch his legs and maybe get some fresh air. He excused himself, much to Irvine's disapproval (the cowboy didn't want anyone to go off on their own, especially Zell). Seifer convinced his partner that he would be alright and to just let him go, but not to wander too far and don't take too damn long.

Zell walked away from the group and made his way up to a tree populated field. There was grass in the area that he walked to, and you could see the stars and moon perfectly on the cliff that he arrived at. As he got closer to the edge, the wind almost knocked him off. He looked down and there was nothing but rocks at the bottom of a small crevice. He was high up, if his foot slipped he wouldn't get hunted down like an animal anymore. He wouldn't feel any more pain from losing someone you cared about, never be stressed about anything. He rubbed his still flat tummy. It comforted him, and gave him hope. Those bad thoughts immediately vanished and he closed his eyes and smiled.

The scenery before him reminded Zell of the night at the blood festival, when Squall had told Zell that he cared about him. He began to wonder where Squall went when he died. Heaven or hell, or since he was technically somewhat dead when he died, did that mean that this was it for him? No place to go after death? Zell felt an ache in his chest that brought instant tears to his eyes. He was scared and vulnerable right now, where he needed his prince most. Yet the brooding man was nowhere within reach.

And every minute he spent with Seifer and Irvine, the more helpless and angry he felt. He knew he could never bring his husband back, but it wasn't fair that that bastard left him here all by himself. With a baby that now has no father. If a princess couldn't have her husband, than she had her King, but Laguna was not here (though at times absent minded, King Laguna was a great support to Zell). If a princess didn't have her king she had her knight. Laharl…Zell wondered if his "lab partner" was even alive…

"Shouldn't stand too close to the edge, Shorty." Zell didn't bother turning around because he already knew who it was. He had a feeling he would be followed as soon as he got up here. It would be somewhere along the lines of "just being checked on". As a matter of fact, Zell kind of liked the idea of luring the men out here. No one would hear them scream. Dark thoughts raced through Zell's head. "You've barely said a word since back at the palace," Seifer said taking a spot next to Zell on the cliff's edge. "What's going on in that head of yours, huh?"

Zell's eyes narrowed into slits. "You…" Zell grunted in annoyance and pretended to focus on something/anything in the distance. "I was just standing here contemplating the idea of death…are you even supposed to be alone with me?" Zell questioned trying to keep his rage in check.

"The cowboy is back there babysitting the Humes, I told him I was coming to check on you. Working as a team can be fun…"

"I know. What could be more fun than teaming up with an enemy to murder another enemy?" Zell quipped as he folded his arms to keep warm.

"It's not murder if the person is already dead," Seifer cleverly came back.

"He was more alive in those few moments than you ever were or will ever be."

Seifer shifted his weight and focused on the stars in the horizon. "Don't worry. I have no intention of ever becoming Human again. I'd rather be force fed garlic through my eye sockets. Anyway, I know all about his little transformation before he died. It's pretty sad, actually: He was so blinded by your tricks, he was willing to give up his own life for you. Well it worked. He really loved you."

Angry tears began to form in Zell's eyes. "Don't talk about Squall like he was weak!"

"I'm just trying to point out that he might have had a chance to live if you hadn't put him under your spell…" Seifer watched as his words slam into his victim. Every syllable fed the blond's already growing guilt. "I'm Just trying to make you see that it's not just me and Irvine that aided in the murder of Prince Puberty Boy. You're a third responsible as well."

Zell's mind flashed back to that time in the department store, when Zell belittled Squall in public. Saying things about how it would be Squall's fault if Zell died while giving birth. The blond remembered saying that Squall's love was deadly and was killing Zell. Seemed the tides had turned, and it was all Zell's fault. "So, did you feel the same way about him as he did about you?"

"What do you mean?" the blond asked, not knowing why he was having this conversation with Seifer.

"Did you love him…the same way he loved you?"

"That's none of your business!" Zell's face was now flooded with tears. Besides, what is love anyway? Does it even exist? Or is it just something we trick ourselves into believing we feel, so we can numb ourselves from everything else?

"Thanks for answering my question. I feel relieved now," Seifer lied. Even in death, Seifer still envied Squall. "Well you won't have to worry about that with me or the cowboy. He's already in love with you and I plan on killing him the first chance I get. Then you're coming with me so I can do the deed…you know what the deed is right? Well of course you do."

"I'm already pregnant-you can't do anything to me…"

"I can fuck you…" Seifer replied too quickly for Zell's tastes. "You must have forgotten that I'm not a prince and that I don't need an heir to the throne like Squall did. I just wanna have some fun for a while. The only reason I haven't put my cock in you the whole time we've been talking is because I want to wait until your back to the original you. The all human version. That scent you have now…it just isn't as attractive as your old fragrance, my little blond lilac. Besides, do you really think that Irvine's organization is going to let you keep that little monster growing inside of you? They're going to take you somewhere, and run tests on you. The outcome will be inevitable. They'll force you to abort it and expel you from school. After that happens and they kick you out on your ass with no money and no home, you're mine…" Seifer growled.

Before Seifer knew it, he was tackled by about 130 pounds of vengeance. The boy was strong and had the demon pinned to the ground, or at least that's what he allowed the little blond to think for a while.

The taller of the two flipped Zell over and pinned him back, trapping his slim wrists above his head. "Didn't know you had it in you, Chicken-shit. I didn't come back here to fight though, either. I just wanted to talk, and see how you were. And since you seem to have healthy vengeance flowing through your veins, I'll take that as you're doing fine. Just remember, if you do seek to murder me, make sure you take the cowboy out first, if you know what I mean. Your boyfriend's blood isn't just on my hands after all." And with that, Seifer released the boy's hands and got up. Zell clutched his aching wrists and scowled at the dirt. "What's the matter? Not going to unleash your newfound demon fury on me?" Seifer teased. "I noticed your little nosebleed episode earlier. Enjoy your powers while they last."

Zell ignored him and continued to hold his aching wrists and keep his expression lowered to the ground. What he said was true, and he was already aware that Seifer wasn't alone in Squall's murder. But still, Zell hated Seifer more by instinct. Plus it wasn't Irvine who delivered the final blow. It was Seifer. Zell looked like a kicked dog in its whimpering state. Seifer had wanted this from the very beginning. To see his prey at its weakest, beaten, disoriented, confused. That was when he would have attacked and unleashed his sexual desires. He could have done it quickly, he thought as he looked behind him to see if anyone had followed. But that would be pointless…and it wasn't why he came up this cliff. Somewhere very _very _deep inside the demon, there was a shard of the beast that was actually concerned for Zell's well being. Which is why as Seifer stated before, he was up here to begin with.

Another shard of Seifer feared Zell. Warning bells screamed off in the vampire's head. What if Zell made Seifer weak, like he had made Squall weak? He knew that being involved with Zell could get him killed all along, but it was too late now. He was already under the angel's spell.

Seifer hadn't realized how sharp these shards were, but they pierced him none the less, clouding his judgment. They kept him from forcing himself on the Human right now. The muscles in the blond's chiseled jaw were about to move of their own accord. Words of concern almost slipped past his fangs, but as fate would have it a scream echoed through the trees and found their way to the two blonds' location.

Zell's head lifted in surprise. He narrowed his gaze in the darkness. "That sounded like our group," Zell exclaimed. He wiped his face and shot up, prepared to run in the direction of the scream. He only made a few steps before he was grabbed by the arm.

"Zell, if you go back there and help Irvine, he'll take you back to Galbadia, and that organization he works for is going to experiment on you. They'll kill your baby, and might kill you just to eliminate any risk. Is that what you want?" Zell listened to Seifer's words and they resonated within him like chimes. He was even shocked that Seifer was expressing concern for his well being. "Just stay here…" the demon reasoned forcefully.

Just when Zell had thought that the demon was actually doing something for someone other than himself…"I'd rather die, than run off with a killer. You think Irvine trusts you, don't you? When he's done using you, he'll blast through your spine without hesitation. Just like you cut through Squall to get what you wanted." Seifer loosened his grip on Zell's arm. "Better off with you?" the little prince repeated. "I don't see a single difference between either you or Irvine." Zell yanked his arm out of Seifer's grip and rushed past him. He ran back to the clearing where they had set up camp. He hoped everything was okay. He had heard gunshots on his way there, and more screams.

When Zell pushed two bushes out of the way, he discovered Irvine fighting what seemed to be some sort of savage like creature. It was pale and without any clothing. With rat-like ears and a beak-like snout that looked sharp. There were two others like this one on the ground, dead and filled with bullet holes. Zell had made it back just in time to witness Irvine blast the last remaining one back onto its backside. The others were scared, but Irvine had single handedly eliminated these creatures. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

Besides the dead creatures that attacked them, Zack was on the ground knelt by his sister's body, his shoulders shuddered and sobs escaped from the boy's lips. Zell approached the two twins, examining the sad scene. Tara appeared to have been pecked and bled to death. Most likely from those monsters' beaks. It was horrifying. Looking at the girl you almost wouldn't recognize her.

No one responded. They were too scared. Zell walked up to one of the corpses of the night attackers. They looked strange. Zell dared to touch one and found the texture of its skin to be somewhat leathery.

"Vampires…" Seifer surmised, appearing from the same spot Zell had.

Zack looked up at Seifer, tears in his eyes and an intrigued, yet still scornful stare. "Yeah," Irvine agreed. "Rouge ones…where were you two?"

"What does that mean?" Zell asked standing up from examining the vampire's corpse and successfully changing the subject. They seemed different from any vampire Zell had ever met. It was like these were made to live here in these mountains.

"These things…they're vampires that were banned from the castle over centuries ago," Russell explained. "For crimes like treason, adultery, murder, anyone who committed a heinous crime was sent here to walk the earth for eternity. They starved to death, and eventually started feeding on other living animals. It changed them. Forcing them to evolve into what they are now."

"We can't stay here," Comfort said.

"Well you don't think we're gonna go out _there_ do you?" Russel argued.

"We die if we stay here, and we die if we travel. Either way we're dead. I, personally, would rather die trying to get closer to the station than just sitting here waiting for daylight."

"She's right," Irvine agreed with Comfort. "We have to keep moving. If I had known there were rouge vampires living in the mountains I never would have made us sitting ducks."

Zack began sobbing again into the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

Zell had become uncomfortable. He was cold, sweaty, dirty and emotionally exhausted. "She was the only family I had left…" Zack could be heard muffling his sobs. They needed to get out of here.

Zell approached the teenager and grabbed his arm, forcing him to make eye contact. "Listen, you can't do anything for her now the only thing you _can _do is try your hardest to survive. And you won't be able to do that by sitting here crying about it!"

Zack listened to Zell's commanding voice. He turned to Irvine, who he blamed completely for all of this, and waited for the cowboy to lead them to safety. They formed a line with the strongest of the group on each end. Irvine led the way, and Seifer guarded the rear. Russel was in front of Seifer, Comfort and Nuke in front of Russel, and Zack in between Comfort and Zell. They were all traveling up a steep hill that seemed to go on forever. It was like climbing a staircase up a tall building, Zack's calves were on fire.

"How much further?" Zell inquired.

"At this rate a few more hours," Irvine responded.

"Are you kidding me? There has to be another way!" Russel exclaimed.

"We'd get there a lot faster if we cut the small talk," Seifer grunted from the rear.

"We can play I-spy," Comfort suggested.

"I would have expected that out of Nuke, not you Comfort," Zell teased. "Nuke how are you? Ya hangin in there?"

Nuke smiled. "Yup!"

…**..Daylight**

Fujin knew Selphie wouldn't open up about what was going on with her. So the one-eyed teen had no choice but either force the information out, or steal the info she needed. What had happened to Selphie that night?

When the sun rose and Selphie cleaned up, showered and got ready for class, she had no idea that Fujin was in her dorm with her just waiting for her to leave. When the brunette finally left and heard the door lock behind her Fujin emerged from what little shadows there were in the sun light filled room.

Her roommate's things had been cleared out, leaving one empty half of the room. Why? Fujin did not know, but it looked like Selphie was on the verge of living alone. Anyway, back to the mission at hand. Fujin searched and searched Selphie's bed, dresser and closet, being careful not to rearrange or damage anything to clue the girl in that someone had been in her room. She came up with Zilch, nada, Zippo.

Fujin's one crimson eye looked ahead to a closed door. The bathroom, she exclaimed in her head. She opened the door and turned on the light, causing the ventilation system in the bathroom to start running. Fujin had always thought those were annoying, but whatever (she needed to stop letting herself get distracted).

She checked the cabinets, under the sink, and even looked inside Selphie's sparkling clean toilet. Nothing…until her foot bumped the waste basket. DUH! She rummaged through, avoiding dirty tampons that should have been flushed down the toilet. Yuck! Then she found it. This was the bag from the drug store that Selphie had come out of last night.

She opened it and looked in its contents. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

…

The group of six were finally up the mountain. It was so windy. Comfort's fingers were numb. "Just a few more miles forward," Irvine announced.

As they walked further in silence, they came to a dead end. Well…not necessarily a dead end. One could just leap across the 7 foot gap that hovered over more than 5k miles of nothing. Comfort glared at the obstacle. "What's wrong?" Russel asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I just realized how much I hate Esthar for being on top of a mountain region…that's all."

"What are we going to do?" Zack asked.

"Only half of us can make this jump. What are we supposed to do with the others? Throw them across?" Russel asked referring to Zack, Nuke and Comfort.

"We'll have to split," Seifer surmised.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Irvine asked.

"Well, if you want to get _everyone _to the waypoint, then it looks like we have no other choice," Seifer answered folding his arms across his chest.

"Then it's settled. The weak go back down and find another way; the mighty warriors leap across the mouth of hell, how poetic," Russel spat.

Zell noted how this guy seemed to be more of a cocky asshole than Seifer was. Irvine rolled his eyes at the thought of this adding more time to this mission and said, "Alright. Ellie and Russel with me. Seifer can lead Comfort, Nuke, and Zack. Any questions?"

"Wait a minute…Why does Zell get to-" Seifer began. Irvine merely walked away, turning his back on the man. Zell and Russell followed.

No one had anything to say. What else could they do but move onward?

Irvine backed up a few feet and leaped across, turning so he was facing the group again. The wind must have blown into his duster and pushed him forward. He even landed as if he were wearing a parachute. Pretty smart thinking.

Russel backed up a few yards and made a running jump across the seven foot gap. He almost didn't make it as he only caught onto the ledge of the other side with his fingertips. Pulling himself up he turned around to everyone and smiled a cocky grin.

Zell's eyes darkened and he sprang easily across without having to back up, making a sliding finish against the rocky ground. When he landed safely on the other side, his eyes turned back to their normal ocean blue and looked back at the group where the others were. "We'll meet up with you!" Irvine called. Seifer mock saluted to the cowboy and led the others back down the hill to find another way across.

Without words, Irvine lead the two boys ahead up a steep hill. Zell sighed and walked along Irvine's left side, but slightly behind him. Russell walked alongside the cowboy. "We're almost there. Five miles," Irvine announced.

"This is so lame," Russell added. He looked back at Zell and continued. "Is there something wrong with you? You've been quiet this whole little "adventure".

Zell thought about responding, but before he could even consider, "Leave him alone!" Irvine warned.

Russell was slightly embarrassed. The taller human looked back at Zell, who looked down at the ground trying not to get Russell in trouble. "Sheesh, a little touchy aren't you? I was just trying to get to know the prince of Liore kingdom. Seeing as how the other one died."

Irvine kept walking, "A tragic accident," was all the cowboy could say.

Zell looked up and glared at Irvine's back. Russell turned around and looked at Zell again. "He was a good prince, you know. Before this whole marriage arrangement, people weren't sure if he would have potential as a king. But, when people heard that he was going to marry Rinoa, the neighboring princess, they lost all hope completely. Then when she was defeated, people celebrated and when we saw you- a hume-it was like the light shined back through the darkness for us humes."

Zell smiled. "Thank you. That's very nice to hear."

"Glad I could get you to smile finally. You _are_ very pretty when you smile-

"That's enough!" Irvine growled, shoving Russell to the side, almost knocking him off of a cliff if it weren't for his athletic build saving himself.

"Dude, what the hell is your problem!"Russell exclaimed, shoving back with one hand. Zell immediately sensed danger and looked around in shock. They had begun fighting. "No one puts their hands on me!" he shouted.

The two scuffled around on mild path. What the hell was happening? "Guys stop!" Zell shouted. But they wouldn't stop. They had begun punching each other in sensitive areas…Like the face…Zell had to jump in the middle and make an attempt at separating the two. When he did, thankfully they immediately backed off of each other, for fear of hurting Zell.

"What's wrong with you?" Zell screamed at Irvine. "You're the leader. You need to help these people survive. Not fight them!"

"He's been making googly eyes at you and flirting the whole time we've been out here. He even tried to steal a glance at you and the girls back at the river!" the cowboy lied.

Russell's eyes widened in shock. "What!" He began to look extremely embarrassed. "Your highness, I would never do such a thing!" The taller boy exclaimed, hoping the prince wouldn't see him as some sort of pervert.

Zell rolled his eyes. "Irvine, even if that statement were true what does that have to do with you and me?"

"Nothing," Irvine replied immediately. "Zell stay behind me. You-" Irvine snapped at Russell- "Stay in front of me. I don't wanna hear another peep out of either one of you." Irvine had failed his mission. He let his emotions for Ellie get in the way of the objective and hurt a survivor; It could have ended bad for this particular half of the group.

Russell arched an eyebrow and began walking. Someone is dealing with some major jealousy issues, he thought.

…..

The path that they took was dangerous, narrow and crumbly. But, it was okay, Seifer was turning out to be a good protector. When the path widened and it was safe enough for multiple people to walk along one line, Comfort had found herself walking along with Seifer, Nuke was close behind the two, but still in Comfort's peripherals and Zack was slowly trailing behind. Seifer couldn't tell if the boy was trying his best to keep up or not, and to be honest the gunblader really didn't give a shit. If these three Humes weren't with him, he would have been able to jump across with the others. But unfortunately, they _did_ exist and were in the exact same situation as himself, yet they could barely fucking defend themselves.

Seifer had learned that if he was ever going to get any opportunity at repossessing Zell, then he would have to play along with Irvine in this stupid game of good guy. And the best way to help Irvine right now was to aid the douchebag's quest in keeping these useless flesh buckets alive. Yes, keep the cattle alive and as soon as he gets an opportunity, grab Zell and take off. They would take him to some sort of lab and experiment on him. Seifer knew how it would happen, the question was wheather Irvine was even aware of what was really going on or not. What had his superiors told him, exactly?

"You think we're going the right way?" the black girl asked (He hadn't remembered her name).

"If my theory is correct, this should lead us across and then upwards."

She nodded her head as she walked affirming his response, and continued to walk alongside him.

Seifer was bored, so he struck up a conversation with the female. "What was your name again?"

"Comfort."

"Comfort? That's a weird name…that's not even a name it's like a nounjetive…"

"Well ain't you just rude," Comfort observed aloud trying to equal Seifer's bluntness. "I know it's weird. It's 'cause I'm not from this region. Where I'm from, we name our children a little differently," she explained.

"I see…So how long have you been back at that castle?'

"A while…"

"I see…"

"Stop saying 'I see'…"

"Do you want to walk a few steps behind me?"

"Why because I'm a girl?"

"No, because I can tell you don't like me-probably haven't liked me since the moment you saw me."

"Hmmm. You prolly right about that, after all you did mess my friend up quite a bit by killin' his husband," Comfort didn't regret anything she released verbally. She'd be damned if she bit her tongue for any-fuckin'-body, especially this asshole.

Seifer smirked and raised his chin in the air slightly. It was always about and/or came back to Zell "I did, didn't I? Goes on the list of top 6 most enjoyable moments of my life, haha. If you think that's a reason for not liking me, then you'll really hate me once you get to know me."

She had a million things to say to that. She could have talked about how happy Squall made Zell, or how they were falling in love, and how Zell would never give to him what he had already given to Squall. But this man wasn't even worth it. He was basically pathetic. Comfort remained quiet. She tried to nonverbally change the subject and turned behind her to Nuke. "You aight, lil man?"

"I'm tired," he replied weakly. Poor thing, he had been walking for almost a whole day and night.

"Don't worry honey, we're almost there. Just hang tight for a little longer, okay?"

The boy nodded reluctantly.

Comfort looked above Nuke and saw that Zack was nowhere in sight behind them. She stopped in her tracks and turned her whole body around to make sure her eyes weren't lying to her. He had surly disappeared. Seifer hadn't bothered to ask what was wrong. He didn't even stop until she had told him what was happening.

"Where could he be?" Comfort asked. Seifer shrugged and looked around with little to no effort. Comfort had walked all around the path seeing if she could spot him. Maybe he stopped for a break and would catch up later. "Zaaaaaack!" She called. There was no reply. She tried again. "Zaaaaack!" Again and again.

"Give it up. He probably jumped while we weren't looking. He just couldn't handle his sister's death I guess," Seifer concluded.

Comfort tried to swallow the words. It was difficult to accept. She wanted him to keep fighting, she felt like she had failed somehow. Seifer sensed this tenseness from her, and noticed that this girl's tough exterior had slightly cracked. He would give her a moment, but they needed to move on, shivering about a lost wimpy sibling wasn't going to bring them back at all. Seifer knew once what it felt like to feel what Comfort was feeling right now, or what Zell had been feeling for the past 24 hours and is still feeling now. But the good thing about being a vampire was that you were immune to emotions like empathy, or sympathy, sadness, and things of this nature. Seifer didn't want to have feelings like this. Feelings that were triggered by failure of protecting someone you care about, or falling in love. It made you weak and Squall was living proof of all of this!

Just when Seifer was going to suggest getting a move on, he felt a strong presence above him. Something flew over them and its shadow crashed over them like a wave of evil. He grabbed the handle of his sword and looked up at the sky. There was nothing there. But he could definitely feel it, he just couldn't see it. It was hunting or searching for something.

"We need to go now! He urged." Comfort ignored him and stared down the path on the mountain in which they came. He grabbed her arm. "Hey! Let's go."

She snapped back to reality and scrunched her face. "Don't you have any respect!" Seifer didn't reply. He dragged Comfort (who dragged Nuke with her) to an opening in the wall of the mountain. It was dark in here and big enough for 4 people, protected by an archway the jutted outward over the edge of a cliff. "What exactly are we hiding from?"

"I don't know, but it's not just going to let us keep walking around here like we're king of the mountain," he explained as best he could.

"We don't have time for this bullshit!" she spat. She was about to head out of the cave and leave the asshole. Fuck him! He can find his own damn way. Seifer would let her get eaten alive if it meant he had a chance of getting himself back to where Zell was. "Comfort no don't leave!" Nuke yelled.

Unfortunately for Seifer, luck fell from the sky. Something fell and landed right in front of Comfort, making her yelp and jump a few steps back into the small nook. Upon examining the fallen object closer, they saw that it was a body. Zack had never committed suicide. He had been brutalized and his deathly terror filled gaze never left the three.

…**Selphie**

Pulling her keys out of her back pocket as she rounded the corner of her dormitory, she noticed someone standing outside her door. They were waiting for her. She squinted less and less as she got closer. "Fujin?" The crimson eyed girl stared at her as she leaned against the wall beside the door with her arms folded. "What are you doing here?" the confused brunette asked.

Fujin unfolded her arms and said simply, "We need to talk about this." She held up the pregnancy test that read "positive" in flashing bright blue.

…**Back at Liore Kingdom…..**

"That's the last of them," Kiros declared. Tossing another dead body into the pile that would soon after go into the furnace. The battle was over…for now anyway.

King Laguna walked over to where Squall laid on his back. He had made sure Squall's body did not get mixed in the fallen troops or slain werewolves. The boy looked as though he were admiring the chandelier before he died, he looked…serene. He knelt beside his son's body and looked at Squall's face in remorse. "I hope he was worth it my boy. You truly are your mother's son," he said to Squall's deaf ears. Rising up and grabbing his robes he began giving out commands immediately. "ATTENTION!" He commanded.

His highest ranking officials gathered in the foyer immediately (Those who were left alive anyway). "Where is Laharl?" The king asked.

The young violet haired vampire stepped out of ranks and addressed the King, "Your highness!"

"Prepare a ceremony for Prince Squall, the best we've ever seen and nothing less."

Laharl inhaled and replied "Yes, your highness Sir!" He took a step back into ranks.

The king addressed his troops as a whole unit now. "Alpha team, prepare weapons and equipment for a full-out assault. Destination: Deiling City-ranging to Galbadia University. Your mission: rescue the prince, Zell Dincht of Liore kingdom. Team Omega will act as back up for this mission. Commander Laharl will lead and Sergeants Kiros and Ward will act as second in command. Your prime targets are Irvine Kinneas and his commander Headmaster Martine. I want their heads on a platter and brought back to me. Eliminate all hostiles who obstruct your mission and take no prisoners…save for one…."

King Laguna turned to all of his troops. And with a cannibalistic glimmer in his eyes he finished, "Bring me Seifer Almasy."

**TBC…**

**A/N: Wow so limitlessly sorry for the long wait for this update. I've been busy with trying to move into my own place (which is awesome by the way) which means I've been working two jobs and going to school which hasn't given me a lot of time to write. But I've recently cut my hours back which means the rent gets paid and you guys still get a decent Zell/Seifer/Squall adventure story.**

**Lots of sadness in this chapter. Especialy on Zell's part. But it's to be expected. And I loved creating all these new OCs. Just something to play around with in a horror situation heehee, but out of all my new OCs, I'd have to say making Russell was my favorite. The OCs that have been around like Comfort and Laharl, who both play prominent roles in the story are just awesome. Let's give it up for these two MVPs! *round of applause and claps***

**And also January 31 is my birthday, so happy 21 birthday to me!**


	22. Evacuation or Extraction?

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Summary: Zell could have been the prince of the vampires. But all that has changed now...what lies ahead beyond the Esthar Mountains?**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash/yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: ZellxSeifer/Irvine/Squall**

**A/N: Wow. Just wow. It has been entirely too long of a sabbatical. Okay here's what took me damn near over a year to update. One: I got really busy with school. But I'm more or less done with that now and am glad to say that I have returned back to the world of art! I'm focusing more on my dancing, modeling and writing. The latter which is therapeutic to me I most surely missed. I also missed you guys and I know you probably thought I was long dead, but you will soon learn from reading this story that nothing is as it seems. Review if you're glad the story is back on!**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Squall and Seifer. MmmmMMM. Yummy vampire passion lol.**

**Chapter 22: Evacuation or Extraction?**

**Comfort**

"Stay here and be _quiet_!" Seifer told Comfort and Nuke. He brandished his gunblade from off of his back holster as he poked his head out to see if he could spot anything out of the ordinary. There were just a few bushes, some rocks and dirt. The usual...his eyes eventually made their way to searching the sky too.

He even looked around on his own line of sight, even though he felt the evil presence above him. He just wanted to be sure he wasn't overlooking anything that could prove to be a threat. Zack had already been killed, which, Seifer already knew, would earn him a few death glares from Zell. But if Comfort or Nuke were to get hurt, there was no telling what Zell might try to do to him. Would he be able to handle losing someone else he cared about?

"Do you see anything?" Comfort called from the corner of the cranny, with a worried expression. Something was flying around here for sure. The fact that Seifer had just stepped over Zack's body, which had fallen out of the sky, _proved_ it.

Seifer continued searching around in silence before finally responding. With his whole body fully exposed outside of the walls of the cranny he responded, "All cl-"

The tall vampire never got to finish his sentence because he was tackled sideways by something and with not so much as a pain filled grunt he completely disappeared from Comfort's view. She jumped and immediately grabbed on to Nuke who had seemed to go slightly stiff (even _she_ was afraid to move). Whatever had killed Zack had wings and it was trying to kill Seifer as well. She needed to snap out of the current state of fear she was in, but she could hear her blood pumping through her head. "Stay here!" She said to Nuke while trying to hide her trembling fingers.

"No! Comfort, don't leave!" he cried. "It'll get you too!"

"No!" She responded, crouching down to be eye level with the small child she explained with all of her might, "Whatever happens, I'm not going to leave you alone on these mountains okay? Do you understand me?" She emphasized her words with her fist pounding into the palm of her hand.

Nuke nodded his head slowly showing that he understood, but still didn't like the idea of Comfort leaving the cranny. Comfort had no idea how much gravity her words held. The impact she was making on this boy was immense. She didn't care whether she could keep her promises or not (she would deal with that later). All that mattered was making sure he wasn't scared and that he could cope with the situation well enough to survive." Yous my big strawng man. You got that?" She asked.

"Mhm!" he chirped.

She took a breath and gathered her strength, stood up straight and began walking at a medium pace out of the cranny. Leaning against the corner of the opening with her hands flat against the stone, she took a look around outside but saw nothing. The dark skinned vixen didn't hear much either. Just that same wind that continued to swirl around the mountains . It was like the breath of Esthar. Cold and dangerous, yet calming at the same time. "Seifer... where you at?"

The cocky vampire _did_ respond. Just not in the way that Comfort had expected. "Graah!" He shouted falling out of the sky with his head aimed to the ground. Comfort thought he was going to land on his neck, but just in time he flipped and landed on his feet. Thank God. He had not met the same fate as Zack. He had blood on him in a few areas, his trench coat was ripped in a few areas and he had a gash on the side of his face, but other than that he looked okay.

"Are you-"

"Run!" he shouted. "Get yourself and Nuke the fuck out of here, I'll catch up with you later!"

No thinking or arguing was necessary. Comfort ran back to the mouth of the cranny and waved Nuke towards her. He ran towards her without hesitation and grabbed her hand. They ran ahead as fast as they could; Comfort just hoped that "fast" would be fast enough. They had to meet up with the others. Comfort didn't like Seifer. She didn't like him! She detested him for what he did to Squall and Zell. But he was protecting them! He was the reason they were still alive and Comfort knew it. There was no point in trying to deny it. Seifer was the reason why Nuke was alive too and neither one of them wouldn't have made it nearly this far without his help. She _did_ hope he would be okay.

"Comfort! look out!" Nuke cried. Comfort could feel a shadow looming over the two of them.

**Zell**

"Wait a minute," Zell suddenly spoke, breaking the silence that Irvine had "implicated".

"Another bathroom break?" Irvine whined.

"No," the blond snapped. "Didn't you hear that?"

Irvine and Russel looked at one another with confused glances. They were really close to the way point by now. Irvine checked his watch and sighed loudly. "We can't keep stopping like this. We're behind schedule. Let's GO! NOW!" he barked.

Russel took his gaze from off of Zell to Irvine's back and rolled his eyes. Nevertheless he followed the cowboy.

Zell tilted his head and cocked at an angle towards the dirt ground trying to focus on what he was hearing. He knew he wasn't crazy. He had definitely heard something. It sounded like-

**Comfort**

"Run!" Comfort shrieked at Nuke as she let go of his hand. Nuke did as he was told and ran into a nearby cave, he covered himself in the darkness of the cave and hid just in time. The vampire that had detected them decided it would pursue Comfort, which spared Nuke. "Oh Fuck!" Comfort cried.

She ran as fast as she could, she didn't want to look behind her, if she did she might trip over something, but she was glad she _did_ look over her shoulder anyway. The grey creature had began running on its hind legs and pulled it's upper body back to take a huge swing at her. She ducked successfully evading all four claws and at the same time never breaking her record speed. She had begun to sweat profusely from fear and adrenaline, which seemed to be enraging the blood sucker even more. It could smell her blood and fear through her sweat. She turned her head again and saw another claw swinging right at her, she ducked and saw from the corner of her eye how it had managed to slice a tree clean in half. Some of the debris from the tree had bumped into her slightly making her heart race. That could have been her whole body, she panicked while still never breaking her speed. She had to do something. But what? That thing was too fast to outrun and she couldn't run forever. She could feel herself getting tired she was slowing down from fatigue and no matter how much she wanted to live her legs were ceasing their function. She could see through her long strands of dark jet black hair that her road was coming to an end: ahead of her was a cliff on the edge of a wide clearing. She had nowhere else to run. No! She would have to jump off of the cliff and hope to survive. She would rather take her own life before she were slaughtered or eaten by a demon any day!

Before she could implement her kamikaze plan, Comfort was tackled by the feral vampire. She knew instinctively that she couldn't land forward (it would leave her body completely vulnerable), so she turned her body and skidded on her back with the vampire's weight on top of her. They had landed _dangerously _close to the edge. It had her pinned underneath its weight. But she held onto its forearms to keep it at bay. If she had landed on her face, it would have surely bit into her neck. She could feel the bones in its body at the base of her palms. They were more solid than the average bones. They were hard and sharp and flexed underneath the bast's leathery skin. She tried her hardest to prevent it from clawing at her and so that it's neck couldn't reach her face. It had tried countless times to bite her face off. It snapped furiously drooling spit all over her face, collarbone and chest. The whole time Comfort got a real good look at its face. They didn't have eyes, she noted. Just noses mouths and fangs.

She couldn't hold this position for much longer like this. With all her strength she rolled the beast off of her making it flip forwards off of the cliff. The beast shrieked for dear life once it realized it was going over the edge, but it wasn't going down that easy. It's a good thing Comfort hadn't let her guard down even from her position on the ground.

The vampire had latched onto the soil on the edge of the cliff and attempted to climb back up towards its prey. Comfort saw a boulder to her left just a couple of inches in front of her. She wasted no time in grabbing at the opportunity that would keep her alive. With another swift roll, she placed her body in front of the huge stone and shoved into the vampire with all the power from her legs and feet. The boulder went straight into its chest before it had completely climbed over the edge. Comfort watched proudly as the weight of the object overwhelmed the beasts efforts and shoved it off of the cliff and its arms and legs flailed wildly all the way down exploding blood in every direction and all over the rocks at the bottom.

"Jesus..."

**Russel**

Zell followed behind the cowboy and Russel for about another 3 miles. He just could not shake that feeling that something bad was going to happen...something horrible. It made Zell want to turn around and head back towards the castle where he knew he would be safe. Where he could make sure everyone was okay. The hormones from his pregnancy were amplifying those feelings of malice and worry that he felt underneath his skin. Once they had finally reached the way station in a small opening of a canyon the three boys observed their surroundings. There was nothing but open space and paths that led to other parts of the mountain region. This must have been the core of the entire mountains. This small opening was holding it all together? Wow...

"So...I was sort of expecting a chopper, or...you know...something that could fly...not...more rocks," Russel commented dryly when they had stepped into the perimeter. If this was an idea of a joke, he would whoop that cowboys ass. He didn't care if he had a gun _or_ if he was a soldier.

Zell watched Irvine ignore Russel's comment and take his index finger and thumb and twist his earring slightly, moving any loose strands of auburn hair out of the way. He looked like he was trying to find the right setting or station and that azul earring was not an earring, but a communicator.

"This is Agent 12 requesting evac at location: x-1000790, y-800899. Hostiles within the area, please send back up, requesting attention for a total of 4 civilians," the soldier spoke into the communicator and when he was done sending his retest he rotated his earring once more shutting the decorative device off.

"Cool trick," Russel complimented.

"It comes in handy- so here's the deal. We're going to wait here for evacuation. It will arrive in less than 10 minutes. Everyone stays here and waits."

"Four civilians?" Zell repeated. "Just four?"

"This trip is going to be Humans only. Something you should be thankful for, Zell."

Zell raised an eyebrow. "Oh I am. Trust me. It's just that I thought since you and Seifer were so close you'd make him co-pilot or something," the boy sneered.

Russel remained quiet and watched the interaction. If he didn't know any better he would think that the prince was exhausted from having to fight every five minutes. If it wasn't Seifer, it was Irvine, if it wasn't one of them it was someone else it seemed. Irvine reassured, "Don't worry," he began seriously. "Once that asshole gets here, he will be eliminated so quickly he won't even have time to check out your ass one final time."

Zell squinted his eyes. "What about everyone else?" Zell asked looking around for the other group. "Why haven't they arrived yet?" Russel had also been wondering about that. They should have been here by now. Did something happen?

"They have ten minutes to get here," Irvine replied looking at the ground.

"...Ten minutes?" Russel asked. Zell became silent and slightly stunned.

Irvine clenched his jaw. "They have to hurry. Evac won't wait for them to get here and they wont bother looking either."

"But they're bringing a helicopter or something right?" Zell almost shrieked. Russel noticed how he had gone from silent to panic in literally less than a minute.

"I understand how you feel, but this is an evacuation mission for them, not a rescue. Believe it or not there is a difference, Ellie."

Zell turned his whole body in the direction of the other team. Hoping to somehow spot them in the distance. And to his shock he even hoped that Seifer would be okay. Zell's eyes began glowing dark (he just wanted to be able to have the opportunity to kill Seifer himself, he realized devilishly...but where had that thought come from so easily?). He couldn't bear the thought of leaving Comfort behind here in these forsaken mountains. She was his only friend. And then there was Nuke, poor Nuke...he was just a child. How could they leave a child behind? They'd better hurry!

**Comfort**

Not even bothering to brush the dirt and slime off of her clothes, she immediately scooted away from the frightening edge of the cliff as soon as she watched the pale vampire beast smashing gruesomely at the bottom of the mountain. She could only imagine how nasty it would look down there. Blood and guts everywhere. Comfort didn't want to end up like that.

She turned and ran the direction that she had left Nuke in. She had to make sure he was okay, then she would go find Seifer. Hopefully the asshole was still alive...

Comfort had made her way to the area where she had first and stood at the entrance. "Nuke!" She called into the darkness. She couldn't see a damn thing and he hadn't responded or emerged from the darkness. Then she began to think horrible thoughts. She had told him to hide in the cave. What if he did as he was told and had been eaten by whatever lived in here. She hadn't been thinking straight, she just wanted him to be safe.

"Lookin' fer me?" little Nuke had scared the bejeezus out of Comfort by jumping out from behind a nearby bush. Comfort screamed immensely and held her heart. She snatched Nuke up into a hug and told him not to scare her like that. "I know you told me to go into the cave but I thought there were monsters in there so I left and hid here instead," he explained. "Sorry I didn't listen."

"It's okay. Just come with me."

**Seifer**

Seifer's bones, scrapes and cuts had begun to heal themselves. This monster could fly. It had two leathery grey wings that were transparent and one could see every vein. They were attached to a bird like body, with a large chest and frame. But it's face was mannish except for the massive beak that was used for stabbing its prey and then draining the blood completely out of its victims.

Seifer was trying to predict its movements. He put his Hyperion away as well because it wasn't working and it was only succeeding in making the vampire warrior exhausted at a faster rate. While fighting with the winged demon, he had realized that this thing was just a vampire with wings. It had evolved perfectly to live out here in the mountains and it had proved to be a silent killer. It had almost managed to kill him with no sound, just as it had succeeded in killing Zack with no sound. Seifer didn't see the purpose in killing the aerial beast. He had other ideas in mind. He moved out of the way from one of its thrusting talons. It had flown in the air and made a U-tun in the sky. It hovered in the air for a second before gathering up enough strength to thrust at Seifer once more. He saw his chance. Running towards it, he leaped at it head on. As if in slow motion he focused his aim on the beasts neck. He veered his body at a tilted angle to the left and with both hands grappled the neck. The unexpected weight of the vampire threw the bird off balance and was tilted to the side as well.

Seifer and the beast were now descending rapidly into the ground, the cut of the cold mountain wind giving his eyes a burning sensation. Seifer managed to put his body on top so that the bird would break their fall. They slid in the dirt together causing the ground to scrape against the vampire's skin. Seifer laid on top of the winged beast momentarily before it regained its coordination and bucked wildly. Seifer held on with stead fast determination. He was going to break this aerial demon, he was going to use it to get off of these mountains!

**Zell**

"Well... times up. We gotta go," Irvine declared trying to sound as unsympathetic as possible.

"No!" Zell pleaded from his spot by the edge of the mountain, where he had never taken his eyes off of the horizon for signs of the others. He had waited for any sign of Comfort and the others for a whole ten minutes. Not once leaving his spot. "Just a few more minutes."

The sound of a chopper could be heard in the distance, to his horror. No! To some, like Russel, it sounded heavenly. It sounded like sanctuary. To others Like Zell, it was a ticking time bomb of despair.

If he got on the chopper, that would make him a coward. A deserter. Deserting his friends, and deserting other humans was not something he was quick to put on his list of failures. Regardless of whether he asked for this part of his life or not, he knew he had to take responsibility, just like he had responsibility of the vampire nation of Esthar. He didn't ask to be made a prince, but it had happened. And now that he _was_ a prince, he would protect the people he cared about the best way he could, he would do his best even without a fucking crown or a throne!

He felt around in his heart for that dark power...any type of power. He could feel himself beginning to understand his demonic abilities more. His unborn child, no mater how sick it may sound, was filling his heart with more and more dark energy. It was just like Squall had said, his unborn allowed him to do thing he wouldn't normally be able to do. If he could focus in on the dark energy from inside, he could use it to unleash his powers whenever he wanted to and learn to control them more... and so he focused...

The helicopter came into view. It was silver with red trim and had the letters "F.L.A.R.E." printed on the side. On the face of it above the glass windshields, was an image of a flame and a dying beast suffering inside of it. But strangely, it didn't seem to be landing anytime soon. Russel was the first to notice this, which made him frown slightly. Instead it hovered over the area like a UFO. Even Irvine squinted his eyes in confusion. He wondered why it wasn't landing, he requested evacuation didn't he? Black cords unraveled from the doorways on either side of the chopper army style. And down descended what looked like at least 8 soldiers from F.L.A.R.E. They were like spiders spooling down from their web.

They wore Navy blue Khaki jumpsuits with silver armor. Their armory consisted of breastplates, knee and elbow guards and helmets with silver eye visors. But their mouths were visible. They definitely had the Galbadian look going on.

When they landed Irvine and Russel expected them to pull out medical kits. But to all of their horror, they pulled out assault rifles. They also pulled out hand-held computer pads. Without warning Russel was shot in the neck with some sort of dart. He groaned and went down immediately. The muscular boy's eyes closed slowly and he laid still.

Zell's eyes widened in horror. What was going on!? He looked to Irvine for answers. The cowboy had been pulled to the side and was being searched and sterilized of any infections, marks, contamination.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Irvine barked. "No!" A soldier aimed his weapon at Zell and fired a dart at him as well.

Zell didn't even think. He caught it with his hand so fast no one even noticed until he lowered his arm.

The soldier was confused, but nonetheless aimed his weapon and fired again at Zell's neck. Once again he caught the dart between his index and middle finger, before it hit his shoulder. "Move up!" One of the soldiers in the back said. Three of them raised their guns and opened fire relentlessly at Zell.

This was amazing, Zell thought. He could see everything so clearly. It was as though he had slowed down time, like he was cheating. He caught all 10 darts and now held two fistfuls of tranquilizers. He couldn't see the soldiers' faces because they were covered under those space helmets, but he could tell by their postures and their clenched jaws that they were in a state of "Oh shit".

He needed to do get rid of them. He raised his arm and threw those tranquilizers like a shotgun shell. They scattered everywhere. let's just say 15 divided by 3 is five, right? Five darts for each soldier that decided it would be okay to open fire on Zell. They went down instantly dropping their weapons with clanks against the hard dirt ground.

A voice rang from the helicopter that was still hovering above them. "_PERMISSION TO SUBDUE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. CAPTURE SUBJECT, DO NOT TERMINATE!_"

Zell had tapped into enough of his power for now. It was time to stop playing games. He turned around and sprinted for the nearest path. But before he could get far one of the guards began to approach him. Big mistake. Zell kicked the gun out of his hands and kicked his feet from underneath him, humiliating him in front of all of his colleagues. He broke into a sprint evading bullets and darts.

_"__DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"_

**Irvine**

Irvine watched in horror as the guards opened fire on Zell with live bullets and pursue him. "Stop!" he shouted. He was handcuffed with F.L.A.R.E.'s electronic binding restraints. Zell leaped from the mountains and landed on the side of the cliff. He used his momentum to push himself forward and he hopped boundlessly near the other side of the canyon. In moments the blond was out of view.

"_DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!_" he heard that same voice from the helicopter speakers order the troops.

Another rope spun out from the helicopter door and down spindling head first, from what Irvine could see, a person in a a black and yellow body suit. Whenever this person got closer to the ground, they adjusted their body so that they landed feet first. Irvine could see clearly now. It was...her...shit this was getting worse and worse by the second.

"Secure this one," the woman ordered with a wave of her wrist. "Take him to the aircraft," she finished referring to a limp and dazed Russel. The boy was obviously doped up on some sort of drug.

He would be safe, Irvine assured himself. Right now, Zell was his main concern...as usual. Without warning Irvine had been stuck with a blood sample collector by one of the soldiers. He drew Irvine's blood and put it into a USB, which was then put into a hand held computer. "It's negative," he reported to the woman.

"Release him, then." Instantly they backed off of the cowboy and tended to the other disabled soldiers with tranquilizers in them. Zell really did a number on them, Irvine smirked on the inside.

Irvine stood up and was face to face with perhaps one of the scariest women he had ever heard of. He still had his handcuffs on.

She looked at him adoringly and said, "My, my, my. You sure have made a mess of things."

**Seifer**

Comfort gripped tightly around Seifer's waist for dear life. She hadn't realized how much she was afraid of heights until now, if it were up to her she would have just taken her chances with fighting a few more vampires. She had wedged Nuke safely between herself and Seifer while the blond rode this flying vampire without even so much as a twine rope. This man was nuts and she was even more fucking crazy for agreeing to ride on the feral creature with him.

Her long curly jet black hair trailed behind her wildly. She had to yell slightly to be heard over the chilly wind. "We almost there?"

"About a mile," Seifer shouted back behind him. Seconds later he was lowering the beast on a small platform on a rocky edge. "For you two that is... Get off."

Comfort looked perplexed. "What?"

"You have to start walking towards the way station with him and let Irvine take you to safety. I can't go with you. Not only am I a demon, I'm a fugitive. I can't go back to the castle and I can't go with F.L.A.R.E. both groups want me dead." Seifer could feel Comfort and Nuke dismounting the vampire. Seifer was a badass for sure. He was definitely nothing short of that. It was just...he had a goal: Zell. And that seemed unattainable right now. One thing: He was pregnant. Another was he was emotionally damaged which took the fun out of everything. If he had acted sooner, he could have traumatized the boy himself...in many ways...heh heh heh. Anyway, Chicken Wuss was safe for the moment, and that's what was really important...

Comfort helped Nuke dismount from the winged creature. "Where will you go?" She asked with slight worry, shocking herself somewhat.

"It's best if you don't know. Don't worry about me I can take care of myself," he added with a wink and a smirk. He was about to lift off with the zebra like demon but Comfort stopped him. "Wait!" Seifer landed back on the ground.

"What?"

"Take him with you." Comfort offered Nuke to Seifer.

Seifer just stared at her. Then he looked at the child. "Excuse me?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We both know he would be better off with you. I don't feel like that organization will be able to treat him right," she explained. "But I feel like you could."

"So now all of a sudden you trust me?" he asked. Seifer looked into the child's eyes. Nuke was his name. And this was his first time actually getting a good look at him. He was so damn small. And helpless. And he was always clinging to Comfort. He became uneasy at the thought of being responsible for this kid. "Are you fucking kidding me? He'd just slow me down. Now get outta here! Hurry before they leave you."

She nodded slowly in understanding, grabbed Nuke and headed towards the descending hill that would lead to the canyon.

"Hey!" Seifer called. The pair stopped. "When you see Zell, tell him I'll see him soon."

**Zell**

Zell outran the sound of bullets, nets and tranq guns. He knew they were trying to disable him and not kill him, but getting shot would still hurt. Zell was sure he was at a safe enough distance to stop and search the area for any changes. If he focused in on his surroundings hard enough he could detect changes in heat, atmosphere, and wavelength, but most importantly his sense of smell. Speaking of smell, he could smell someone approaching. Of course! It was-

"Comfort!" Zell cried.

Zell saw Comfort and Nuke climbing over a rock that led to the canyon. "Zell!" She cried in happiness. They rushed towards each other and embraced for a moment. Zell had since turned off his demonic power so as not to harm himself and so he didn't overwhelm Comfort and/or Nuke.

After quickly asking the two if they were alright, something in the blond's brain clicked. "Where's Seifer?"

Before Comfort could answer the cocking of a gun could be heard behind the trio. Before any of them could react something had shot forcefully into Zell's backside. "Ahhh!" He screamed loudly throughout the whole canyon range and fell to the ground. Comfort wanted to rush to Zell's aid, but another sound of a cocking gun halted her actions. Soldiers clamored up the hills with their wire ropes and gadgets. Nuke hid behind Comfort. A glance at Zell and she couldn't tell if he would be okay or not. He had been shot, but now they were aiming guns at her and Nuke. She kept Nuke behind herself.

"Hold your fire!" Zell heard that familiar voice that rang from the helicopter. He didn't like that voice it was scary, cold and heartless. Up the trail came, a tall slender body attached to a full head of healthy, shimmering blonde hair. Whoever this woman was she was a soldier, one who definitely didn't believe in ponytails or up-doos that was for sure. She was so sexy, he noticed from his position on the ground. Every curve seemed to have an aura of its own and her breasts...they were so large and the split between her bosom stood proudly out of her skin tight body suit. "Don't harm the woman and the child," she commanded now standing fully erect in the midst of all of the action. "But don't be afraid to teach that one a lesson."

Zell stood up and placed his hand on the spot where he had been hit. He could feel that it was wet and sore, but a small chunk of metal spit itself out and into the palm of his hand. He put it in front of himself and crushed it with his fingers. Demon mode reactivated, bitch. This woman wasn't scared of the fact that Zell had just crushed a bullet with his bare hands. "Ah, so you must be the famous Zell Dincht."

Zell stood on his two feet trying hard to balance. "Depends on who's asking. I've gained a few titles over the past few months," he responded. "And who the hell are you?"

"That's just adorable. Nonetheless, you've become a liability in which case I must ask you to come with us," she responded not bothering to tell them her name.

"We're not going with anyone who thinks its ok to shoot at us without warning. I'd rather die on these mountains than go anywhere with you!" Zell's human fangs showed.

The woman smiled cheerfully. "You're so much cuter in person!"

Zell was becoming even more aggravated and had decided enough was enough. He was about to put this bitch's face in the dirt, but before he could even make a move he was kicked square in the chest and slammed directly into a tree practically smashing it in half. He never saw that coming and if he were all the way human like he was before, the impact from hitting the tree probably would have killed him. He panicked from the pain and began to squirm to get free. He was stuck in the trunk and tried to escape from the bark, but that bitch had come out of nowhere and pinned his throat so that he couldn't move. He couldn't even budge a fucking inch! It wasn't fair she was so strong! Her cold gaze sliced into him as she mercilessly choked him into unconsciousness. He couldn't breathe. He could feel himself falling asleep fast .The last thing he remembered seeing was the gadget on her wrist glowing intensely. Greenish blueish hues burning brightly into the darkness behind his eyelids. He felt himself turn back into a human before everything went totally dark.

**Comfort**

"Stop it! Don't kill 'im!" Comfort screamed. The galbadian soldiers cocked their weapons in her direction daring her to interfere.

The woman released her grip on Zell's throat. His body slumped to the side and soldiers immediately rushed to him and begun trying to pull him out of the frame of the tree. "Don't worry, he's not dead," she explained. "He is merely sleeping. He'll only be out for a good 10 hours. That's plenty of time to get all of you back to Galbadia," she explained proudly.

"What you gonna do to us?" Comfort asked timidly tightening her grip on Nuke protectively. She watched as the soldiers hauled Zell off down the trail on a hospital stretcher.

She smiled that cocky smirk again, it felt so familiar to Comfort.

"There's no need to worry. You will be taken to a safe underground facility where you will undergo mandatory testing. Of course you understand it would be irresponsible of us not to put you through the necessary procedures. You have been exposed to demons at a high level for a long period of time," she finished dramatically. She continued to explain, "Don't worry you seem fine to me so you should pass with flying colors."

"And if we don't?" Comfort asked boldly.

"Well..." the woman stretched her arms above her head showing off her awesome physique. Damn her chest was huge. "I believe the answer for that lies with the researchers in the F.L.A.R.E. underground."

"What is she talking about Comfort?" Nuke tried to whisper the question but it was still very loud. This bitch was using too many big words for Nuke to understand what was going on and it was beginning to scare him even more. Comfort could tell he did not like this woman one bit.

Comfort had to make a decision. One in which it would ensure Nuke's safety over her own. But if they could both be safe, that would be perfect. Now let's see: she couldn't go back to the castle: There were werewolves there and Nuke had no family to return to. The vampires would either eat him, or cast him aside and abandon him. They couldn't stay here on these mountains either: They would be dead within the hour from being torn apart by beasts if they stayed on their own. The only for sure safe place that they could go was forward... with this woman. And poor Zell. It looked like he was going with them regardless of what he wanted, as usual. No choice in the matter what so ever. She had to find a place for Nuke to be safe, and make sure Zell was okay too. In which case-

"Fine. We'll go with ya."

The lady immediately signaled to her troops to escort them to the aircraft. Comfort stopped before descending down the hill. "Hey. What's ya name, anyway?"

**Irvine**

"This is bullshit! This wasn't part of the deal!" Irvine shouted. Here we were again. Right where the headmaster and the soldier had left off a couple of weeks ago. Arguing in Martine's office. Irvine slammed his fist on the ex general's desk almost causing a vase to fall over.

Martine caught it without moving from his position behind his desk with just his arm, barely moving his shoulders. "You didn't hold up to your end of the bargain at all. You and I both know that," Martine responded. " You failed numerous aspects of the mission: You took entirely too long to retrieve Zell, you affiliated with a demon, crashed an airship and most importantly failed to secure your partner!" The man was hardly fuming

Irvine on the other hand... he kicked a plant causing it to fall over. Dirt was all over the carpet now. He then proceeded to punch the drywall, leaving a nice hole in it. He stopped to catch his breath and calm himself down. He _had_ completely forgotten about Nida.

"You never told me that if I brought Zell back he would be brought back as a subject," Irvine accused.

"Those weren't my orders, they came from above me," Martine responded coming from around the desk. He picked up the plant that Irvine kicked and set it back on its base. "M'boy, you just took too long, so they sent someone else who they knew would get the job done once they heard about what happened. Someone without any personal attachment to the subject."

Subject. Irvine hated that word. And did they really _have _to send one of the scariest bitches in the company to complete the mission. "Why her?" he asked.

The commander shrugged. He didn't have an answer for that.

Irvine lowered his head in shame. "Sir I have something to tell you."

Martine raised his eye brows in curiosity. "I saw Nida, in the castle. He is...different. Much different. I don't think he is human anymore," Irvine hated himself for releasing this information, but it needed to be said. Nida had definitely changed and not investigating the situation would be immoral and irresponsible. Immoral because Irvine and Nida had been best friends since they first joined F.L.A.R.E. back in their freshman year. They had grown close and bonded. Almost brothers.

Irresponsible, because Nida was many times more powerful now than he was before. The things he did at the castle proved it. He never did things like that in all the time that Irvine knew him. If Nida was capable of that type of power, it needed to be put in check. He was running off of anger, anger from the death of a loved one: Quistis.

"It's settled then," Martine broke Irvine out of his thoughts. "I want you to work on another project, you will focus all your energy now into finding your partner and bringing him back here for observation."

"But, Sir! What about El-"

"Get your head out of your ass, Soldier!" the older man shouted. "Like I said you will focus all of your time and energy on finding the F.L.A.R.E. member Nida. I will print out your itinerary and provide you with your credentials within 24 hours. Until then, hand in your report and go on standby! You have caused me a lot of trouble with this whole Zell situation. There will be consequences if I don't keep your ass in check now." The headmaster still wasn't fuming yet. "Let me make one thing clear. Him getting himself captured, imprisoned and knocked up is no one's fault but his own." Irvine hated him for saying that. "Stop trying to pursue this matter. These things never end well for anyone. Do I make myself clear, soldier?"

Irvine's eyes almost burned with tears of anger and resentment. "Sir, yes sir!" and with that he began to heel out of the office.

"Irvine." Martine called out.

Irvine stopped at the door and turned to look at his Commander once more. "In all honesty. Nida is the one you should have been looking for in the first place. Not Zell."

Irvine didn't respond. There was no point in arguing if he knew Martine was right... So he just walked out of the office and closed the door behind himself. He didn't even bother asking where they had taken the poor Hume. Because he knew he would never know now.

**A/N: I feel that right there is an appropriate place to end the chapter :) I know I know famous for the cliffhangers lol. But not to worry it shouldn't be too long for another update because I have already started working on the next chapter.**

**Once again you guys are amazing and I missed you all so much. I hope this positive energy in my life keeps giving me the time and freedom to keep writing this awesome story! Don't forget to review! XP**


	23. Interrogation

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By lawchan**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**A/N: Lots of dark imagery in this chapter, but never without the light. Oh and Happy Halloween to everyone...again lol. Can you believe this story has gone through two Halloweens? Or has it been 3 or 4? 0.o huh... Damn I'm fucking cruel, however I have a special treat in store as well. I love being so careful with my words XXXPPP!**

**Well enough rambling! The story must move onwards!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 1: The Hunt is On**

**Chapter 23: Interrogation**

**Zell(?)**

He found himself in a room with darkness as his only companion. All he could see were objects that _wanted_ to be seen. For instance, he knew he was laying on a mattress. It was soft, warm and inviting. He could lay in it forever, but he knew he had to get up, go forward. After all sitting still just was not his specialty.

None of what was happening was about to make sense, he knew already, but he had learned by this point how to just go along with things. He made his way from the mattress to one of the objects that gleamed in the darkness. And as he got closer about midway, he could tell for sure now that this gleaming object was a mirror. Instinctively he got even closer and began to see himself and make out his own features in the dark. His face and body became clearer and clearer. The blond hair, the trademark tattoo, boyish features and flawless skin as always, not to mention those pearly whites. He wore a hospital gown and nothing more. No underwear or socks, he may as well have been completely nude, you could see his hips and pale flesh poking out of the paper-like material.

Who placed this mirror here? And what was its purpose?

Slowly, the room began to fill with warm light. It was so bright that Zell had to shut his eyes, and when he opened them again the room was completely filled with it. When his eyes got used to the light finally, he noticed the shape of the room. It was an apartment...like a studio flat, and to his surprise it was nicely furnished. He saw the bed in which he had woken up from and this time he could make out the nice white sheets and bedspread that laid upon it. This bed was one of the objects that had _wanted_ to remain visible in this darkness.

There was a coffee table, a fireplace and a refrigerator on the other side of the "apartment". Zell could feel immediately how phony and fake everything was. It felt so artificial and staged. It was also sterile. _Much_ too sterile. Zell's gaze found its way back to his own reflection, only this time his breath became caught in his lungs and his heart dropped. Staring back at him in the mirror was him...only...he was covered in blood. His hair and his face, and gown and skin and arms, it was just horrifying to look at. What the hell had happened to him!?

Then there were his facial features. Everything about him had changed; His hair was black, his eyes were pitch black, and his jet black eyebrows seemed to arch up extremely too high. Zell grabbed his face frantically and then his arms checking to see if the blood was really there, however he couldn't feel anything wet or out of place at all. "Wha-wh-wh-what ha!?"

"For the love of Christ, stop your goddamn fuckin' babbling," his reflection shot at him. Dear God. Even his voice was different. Icy, cold and heartless. He watched his reflection move around and curse at him with a mind of its own behind the glass. This was, well, strange.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time and all you can do is stutter like a dumb bitch!" Zell frowned at the harsh words and language that came from the person in the mirror.

Before he could even imagine himself responding back to his "reflection", it continued: "You can never seem to stand up for yourself, so now I'm stepping in...finally. You can thank Squall for that. It took _him, _of all people to finally awaken me, and if he hadn't gotten his emo ass stabbed I would still be able to thank him."

"Squall? What does he have to do with anything? And what do you mean by 'awaken'. I know this is a dream but..."

"...you truly _are_ fucking dumb and clueless...aren't you? There's just no excuse for your stupidity any more. Honestly _tell _me! How have you managed to survive this long!?" Zell was tired of this person talking to him like that. "You know sometimes I really have to just thank The Devil that we have a nice body and a pretty face and if it weren't for that I swear we wouldn't have lasted five seconds since this whole thing began, especially when you decided to go straight into that werewolf den like a complete fucking dumbass." The reflection took a breath finally.

"You've known me for _that _long?" Zell asked.

"I've wanted to meet you for so long, Zell. When you first became intimate with Squall, that's when I began to surface. I'm glad we've finally met." Zell watched his reflection smile devilishly back at him. It was one of the most deadliest smiles he had ever seen. "You're in a terrible place right now, Zell. And you've already been through so much. The truth is, you can't handle much more and watching Squall die in front of you was just icing on the cake. You _need_ me. And I'm here to help."

"Who...or what are you?"

"I have many names, but you can just call me "Mell". It's short for Mellenia."

"Mellenia?"

"Bingo, kid. And don't worry. Like I said: I'm here to help. Whenever you feel like you're getting too stressed out or if you don't feel strong enough, Just let me take over. Here's a tip: I'm strongest to channel around mirrors."

The 'person' in the mirror winked back at Zell and the lights suddenly began to flicker again. The image of this blood covered version began to disappear and reappear continually, until finally he was gone and the _real(?)_ Zell had reappeared in the mirror. Looking at himself, he could see how much he was sweating. His whole forehead was drenched and his skin was ghost white.

He felt a pulling sensation on his body, like he was being dragged somewhere. He awoke with a jolt suddenly and found himself in his bed in that _same_ hospital gown, and in that same room, and to his satisfaction he wasn't covered in blood. This was the first time he had been aware of his consciousness in this room, but he felt like he had been walking around in it for a full ten minutes already, like he had been standing on his feet the whole time, right over there by that full-body mirror...

**?**

Walking down the halls of the massive cocoon like facility with only purpose and direction and a mean sense of duty, the woman in the black and yellow body suit made her way towards her living quarters. Whoever heard her heels clicking fiercely in the corridors would _try_ to go the opposite direction, but she was a lot faster than you could ever imagine in those shoes. There were many ways to describe her, but the ever classic "Bitch On a Mission" seemed to simplify things to a certain point and she had a track record to prove it.

This woman had succeeded in detaining four subjects in one mission. One of them had been her main target, Subject: Zell Dincht, the other three were merely servants from the Loire Kingdom who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. May as well throw them in the pile as well and possibly make the world a much safer place to live, she figured. She had detained all of them without even breaking a nail.

She knew that subject Zell was definitely infected with some sort of demonic power. It was her job to discover how it happened and when it happened.

And whenever her target wakes up, that's when the real fun would begin. She would interrogate him, and get inside his head, if he lied, she would have no problem beating the information out of him, or threatening him. She wanted to know everything that had happened to this boy, in order for her to determine the process of his containment.

Finally she made her way to her living quarters, which thankfully was located on the 44th floor and no where near the 100s or the 200s. Her apartment was located 2 miles east of the main elevators. The sensual blonde woman removed her keypad from between her two full breasts. They were there for a reason so she may as well make use of them. She kept valuables in between them. Whatever she kept there was close to her, and no one would be able to get a hold of whatever was inside without her knowing about it, any smart fighter knew how to implicate this tactic.

She entered her room and closed the door behind her, not bothering to get comfortable at all. She spent the whole day in heels and she would stay as such until her mission was over.

She was one of the top agents in F.L.A.R.E some time before and now she was a leading commander in the organization that operated _above_ it. She had earned this position not because she was good at what she did, but because she was _the best_ at what she did. Which was fighting, killing, and torture...anything that got the job done.

She had been assigned to this Dincht boy for a reason. Because that damned Kinneas couldn't even manage a simple rescue/retrieve mission. She had glanced at his file on her kitchen counter. '_Reckless, attacking survivors, downed a company plane, affiliated with fugitives and/or demons, ignored orders, disregarded safety of his partner._' Yeah...this guy's future was pretty much fucked...at least when it came to aspects of the company.

She took her gaze off of the file and moved to the living room. She didn't know why but she liked to come back here to reflect on her own thoughts. But before she could dwell on any such thing, her right wrist vibrated slightly one time and the screen that covered her forearm lit up automatically. She had received a notification, lovely. She noticed it still read: Subject on Standby until Interrogation is Complete. Good, nothing had changed and the geeks down at the lab had kept up to the hourly updates she had assigned them.

To her left, was an oak stand, adorned with medals and trophies, all of her accomplishments and awards. Not only physical challenges, but academic ones as well. Math awards, head of class, valedictorian etc. She wasn't just a beautiful blond woman with a nice rack by any means, she was an intelligent woman, which made her all the more deadlier.

To the right of the masterpiece of accomplishments, was a fireplace. She never used it...above it, however on top of the mantel was definitely a place that never collected dust. Pictures of her and her family and her life before she became the Perfect Soldier. There were a few photos in particular that always caught her off guard, and deep down inside they were some of her favorites.

These "personal favorites" of hers all had one thing in common: The boy. He had blond hair, a baby face attached to a slim lanky, yet lean body. Next to this boy was herself, before she had become a killer that is...

These two siblings smiled with the same matching pair of innocent bright green eyes. And their faces were close to one another in the most affectionate way. It was sweet. They shared so much when it came to their looks. She had always protected him, and he had always looked up to her. But now, sadly, those days were gone. The day she had stopped having a family, was they day she stopped living...

Before the inclination to get "emotional" even thought of settling in, her wrist gadget vibrated at an alarming rate snapping her back into her cold exterior. She examined her screen once more. It had not even been an hour since the last notification, she noted.

"TARGET ACTIVE", is what her screen read. She tapped on the touch screen with her finger and examined the cell that her new little "pet" had been placed in.

And there he was. Standing in front of the mirror in his cell and he was clearly talking to himself. Strange. And it wasn't just normal 'talking'. He was deeply invested in this conversation... Something else she would have to look into. He was probably suffering from dementia; there was no telling what he had been through. She grinned at the image playing across the screen on her wrist. It was Interrogation time...

**Fujin**

Selphie and Fujin had found themselves seated in a cozy and quiet coffee shoppe in the shopping district of Deiling City. Not only had this "coffee date" proved itself to be quiet, but it was awkward and deathly uncomfortable. Especially for Selphie.

"Well you said you wanted to talk," the short haired brunette finally said after growing tired of swirling her straw in her ice cappuccino. "And I only agreed because you promised you wouldn't tell anyone what you saw." She was referring to her disposed pregnancy test, of course. She could have kicked herself in the ass for leaving her trash in the open like that.

Fujin finished the careful sip of her tea. "I wanted to talk because I've been worried about you."

"Why now!?" Selphie snapped, her green eyes beginning to look hurt. "You left me in that cave to die. Why are you so worried now? I was down there...with those dogs!"

"I never intended for this to happen to you. That thing was after both of us that night. I had to make it choose."

"Well, I guess better me than you," Selphie said bitterly. "After all, I'm not in school, I'm not attractive, my life had no meaning or potential to it. So something like that was just waiting to happen to me, huh?" Every thing she had said was sarcastic and hurtful.

Her words made Fujin feel a lot of guilt. But the one-eyed girl wasn't stupid. If she were as mean as Selphie was turning out to be, she could have brought up the fact that Selphie was the one who had drug Fujin down that cave with her. It was _her _idea to go deep into that cave. She felt bad for the former spunky girl. The girl really did have her whole future ahead of her.

"I'm not blaming you," Selphie continued. "I just wanted you to hear me, I guess. I'm angry! I'm fucking pissed, dude." She began crying. Right in the middle of the coffee shop. Fujin didn't know what to do. "What am I supposed to do?" she sobbed.

Fujin was only here for two reasons. One: She _knew_ it was her responsibility to help Selphie through this traumatic experience. Being raped and feeling like no one could help you or no one cared, seemed all too familiar with Fujin's past. She had to make Selphie realize that she _could_ be strong.

The second reason was: Fujin had become lonely. There was no telling if Seifer would come back. If he had even planned on coming back in the first place. He had been gone practically a month now, and there was no point in waiting on him when he had clearly abandoned her. For whatever reason.

"DOCTOR," Fujin summarized in a deep void tone. She had subconsciously reverted back to her former speech pattern momentarily.

Selphie looked up in confusion. Where had that creepy voice come from? "I can't see a doctor. What will I tell him? That I think I may be carrying a werewolf?"

Selphie had to have been pregnant for a bout a month now. She _had _to see a doctor if she wanted to make the next choice for herself. A _safe _one. Selphie sipped her beverage some more and placed it back on the wooden table in thought. She still had tears in her eyes. And it looked like there were more returning.

Indeed. She began sobbing softly in her seat. The whole shoppe seemed to go have grown silent, but when Fujin glanced around to look for changes, nothing looked different. The same people were still doing the same things they had _been _doing since the girls had entered the shoppe.

Friends socialized with each other. Laughed, told jokes, sipped their coffee and enjoyed life just like they were meant to do. Fujin was undoubtedly jealous of them. And Selphie, well...she used to be one of them. Funny how life changes people. Selphie had done a complete one eighty from who she was a month ago. It was as though she could see shadows of herself with her friends. Nida, Irvine, Quistis and herself. All sitting around laughing and joking.

And Fujin just wished she could experience something like this for once in her life. She wished sometimes that she was normal, i.e. had friends, family maybe even a lover some day. She wished she had something o do to fill her days. School a job...anything, but sit around and wait for Seifer. She wished she could sit in a coffee shop like this and bury her life in her coffee and her laptop, and not care about anything else around her.

But no. It appeared that people like Zell, Selphie, and herself had to suffer. They were the few who had to _fight _their freedom and their happiness.

Fujin reached across the table. Her hand hovered over her female companion's for a second, but eventually she placed it on top of Selphie's.

**Zell**

The confused boy found himself being transferred from where he had previously awoken to some new unknown location. As soon as he had stood up from his bed to find out where the fuck he was a group of guards had entered his "apartment" and proceeded to restrain him and transfer him. All he knew was that half a dozen men had come to escort him, and they had gone through about 7 different hallways that were all the same identical sterile white. They also rode an elevator that rode very smoothly, it reminded Zell of being on a newly built rollar coaster. It was fast...

They had passed offices, meeting rooms, even laboratories and bathrooms too. The lights from the ceiling were so harsh on Zell's eyes it made him squint occasionally. All of the guards around him had on visors so their vision was well protected. The lights were so bright it was as though they were trying to reveal Zell's soul.

The tattooed captive had been handcuffed with some type of advanced gadgetry. It was purple and glowed around the boy's wrists. They were laser-like handcuffs and they kept his movements limited and his powers completely barred. He had realized he couldn't tap into his powers when he tried countless times on the way to this new location. He wanted to tap into his powers so that he could rip these men apart and run away. But alas, once again he found himself powerless...

And now that he thought about it, the idea of even trying to escape completely in human form sounded tiring. If he _did _escape, where would he go? He had no clue where he was much less how to leave. He would need a lot more muscle than this. If he got out there was no one he could turn to...except maybe the Loire Kingdom. Emphasis on _maybe._ Would he still be recognized as a prince? Would they protect him? Or would they treat him as a traitor. He hadn't _wanted_ to leave the castle. Or had he?

The guard that led the group halted the whole group in front of what looked like a meeting room. The label by the door read: Interrogation Room, Floor -800. The guard used his key badge and unlocked the door. He stepped inside the room and the motion sensor light automatically switched on. One of the guards shoved Zell in the room with the butt of his gun harshly against the small of his back.

"Watch it, dick!" he quipped at the man. Fuck the assault rifle. No one would disrespect him like that! A simple "step inside" would have been just fine. The man with the gun followed after him.

The other four guards remained outside and Zell eyed them suspiciously before the door closed on them. They were guarding the door and posting themselves up in the hallway. Something important was about to happen...and the cold air conditioning helped the chills travel up Zell's neck.

He walked over to a chair and sat himself down even though no one had offered him to. He didn't care, though. Mainly because he was tired, and secondly because he was in a paper thin hospital gown with no underwear on and didn't want anyone to see his ass poking out.

He desperately tried not to fidget as he had staring contests with the two soldiers posted on the two back corners of the room. He rolled his eyes at them numerous times. He was uncomfortable...they were like statues and this was so fucking _boring_. He felt like he had been waiting for hours, when it was probably only seven minutes. He looked to the right, and then to the left waiting for something...anything to happen. What the fuck!?

"Can some one please tell me what the fuck is going on here?" Zell had practically screamed in frustration. The soldier in the right corner did nothing but shift his weight to the side. The hyperactive boy was _just_ about to flip this damn table over, but the sudden sound of the electronic beeping and the door opening halted his actions making him turn his head around.

His heart jolted slightly at who he saw walk through the door. Black high heels attached to slim yet sexy long legs, covered by a practically painted on black and yellow body suit, stepped through the door. It was _her_ again, and this time there was no dirty forest, trees, dirt and mountains or helicopters to take away from her drop-dead beauty this time. Zell couldn't deny that she was absolutely gorgeous. She was so toned everywhere, with a plump booty and bosom. Delectable hips and a flat chiseled stomach.

Taking her seat in the chair across from Zell, she adjusted the device on top of the back of her forearm. It looked like she was inputting commands. Zell watched in interest as she spoke into the gadget. "Interrogation date: October 20th. Subject Dincht. Reason of interrogation: Multiple," she spoke into her device. When she was done speaking she pressed more buttons.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Zell. How are you feeling?" she had finally directed her attention on him.

Zell stared blankly at her. "Nauseous," he replied flatly.

She smiled pleasantly. "That can sometimes be associated with signs of pregnancy," she stated matter-of-factly. "We will have to put you through testing to find out whether or not you are officially compromised. Though I must say, you have handled yourself well." He continued to stare at her blankly. It was the only way to keep himself from scowling at her! He didn't like her. Why was she so scary, even though she was both beautiful and polite? "So tell me a little about yourself," she urged him positively. "What's your hometown like? Where did you go to school?"

Zell slouched in his chair lazily and rolled his eyes. He gazed off at the wall and started to draw shapes on it with his imagination. This was pointless and boring and if she thought she was getting a reaction out of him she had another thing coming. He also _really_ had to pee. "Where's the bathroom?" he asked abruptly.

She smiled sweetly and signaled to the troops behind her. They nodded in affirmation and one of them broke their position to begin turning on the medium sized television set on the wall. The woman got up from her seat and angled herself off to the side, never taking her eyes off of her 'subject'.

The flat screen flickered on and showed a room a lot less furnished than the one that Zell had awoken in. And two figures slumped against the wall. One was a woman and the other was a child. "Comfort! Nuke!" he cried. Zell stood from his chair, causing the legs to screech against the floor.

"They can't hear you," the woman explained calmly. "Don't worry. They're safe...for now."

Zell tried to channel his power, it wasn't working but he didn't give a fuck! He knocked over his chair as he got up and charged at her with both of his wrists bound together. Her facial expression never changed the whole time she watched him "try" to sprint at her like a wild animal.

He was almost within choking range of her, but before he knew it he was hit square in his jaw and he collided right back into the table. One of the guards had intercepted him. From his dazed state lying on the table, he could hear a light feminine chuckle. "Well aren't we just a little fighter," she remarked adoringly.

Zell heard her heels clicking around the room slowly at a casual pace. He looked up and watched her watch him as she paced back and forth slowly. "If you don't cooperate I will have to hurt you, if that doesn't work we have to hurt your friends. Such a shame too. We already promised them they could leave once their testing was complete. But if you make _your _testing difficult, I'll have no choice. So try to be a good little boy and please don't make me be a bad person."

"Fine!" Zell spat while trying to adjust his jaw. "I'll cooperate!" He had wanted to call her so many types of bitches in that moment.

The guards tried to assist him back into his chair, but Zell snatched his arms away from them and sat himself down. He gave them nothing short of a cold glare for hitting him in the face so hard, if he wasn't handcuffed he could probably take them because he was just so angry!

The smug woman took her position back into her chair across from him. Flipping her long beautiful locks behind her back she said, "Now let us begin," the soldiers turned the television off, removing the image of Comfort and Nuke. "Where are you from and where did you go to school?"

"I'm from Balamb and I graduated from Balamb High School. About 2 months after graduation I enrolled in Galbadia University."

"Galbadia University? Okay that makes sense now. Why Galbadia?"

"When I had met Irvine...he goes there, so I wanted to go there too. I wanted to go to school."

"And how did you and Agent 12 meet?"

"We met in Deiling City...at his part-time job. Gulladog."

"Ah, his undercover position. And have you two had relations anytime during your association?"

Zell had been doing great..until this part..."Um excuse me?"

"I will repeat the question once more: Have you and Agent 12 had sexual relations in the past 3 months that you've know each other?"

"No! God no!"

Judging by the information you have given me so far it is safe to assume that you and Agent 12 are friends?"

"Well yeah we were until he turned into an asshole...I mean..."

"And what is your sexual orientation?"

-_- "What the? I don't know I mean I-"

"Did your friendship _ever _go past the point of being platonic?"

"Well we dated...until, like I said, he became an asshole."

"So then you _did_ have sexual relations..."

"No! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You can't date some one for a month and not have sex with them, honey that's called being a prude." Zell sputtered repeatedly. She was embarrassing the shit out of him. He could have sworn he even heard one of the guards behind her chuckle. She proceeded to make a note in the gadget on her wrist. Zell watched her with resentment.

"What are you writing down!?"

"I'll have the issue looked into. For now let's move on. Why had you come to Deiling City in the first place? What was your reason?"

"I..." this was the part that Zell didn't want to talk about. The point of no return. But this bitch was waiting for an answer. Could he get away with lying? "I was just traveling after graduation is all...I had never been to Deiling and thought it would be nice to go...as a graduation present to myself."

She smiled deviously. She could smell that lie from a mile away. "Fill their chambers with acid gas," she threatened.

"Wait! Okay! I'll tell you!" Zell pleaded. "I ran away."

"From who?"

"I was running away from vampires. I had to leave my hometown because I didn't want them to find me, or hurt my Ma."

"Ah now we're getting to the juicy bits." She was sitting at the edge of her chair now. "And why do you think these particular demons had targeted you at this particular time?"

"I don't know why. I thought they wanted to eat me at first, but then I found out that they wanted-"

"They wanted to mate," she finished for him. Zell hung his head low. "I'm assuming these vampires were male. How many were there?"

"Two..." Zell said softly.

"Of course the only desires vampires want with humans is either to feed, or reproduce," she explained to no one in particular, "Describe these...beasts to me."

Zell hesitated, and felt uncomfortable when she described Squall as a beast.

"Well one of them was quiet. Really quiet. He was rich, knew exactly what he wanted in life. He respected me." She smirked in amusement at the thought of a demon respecting a human."It's true!"

"Fine. And what was his name?"

"Squall Leonheart."

"As in _The _Leonheart?" She quickly made notes into her arm device again. That was really getting on the teenager's nerves.

"Yes."

"He wanted to make you a prince and an heir to the throne, correct?"

Zell nodded.

This situation had just escalated massively. Her arm vibrated wildly.

"What were you doing in the mountains?"

"Irvine had rescued some of the others when werwolves had attacked the castle, I went with them." It was half a lie, because a part of him hadn't wanted to leave.

"And you and this prince?" She knew a lot. "You _did _have relations with him?"

Zell didn't move an inch. "What happens if I say yes?" That response earned him nothing more than watching her add more notes to her gadget, which was now beeping somewhat uncontrollably. This was mission altering news.

"How many times?" she asked.

Zell stared blankly not understanding the question at first. "E-excuse me?"

"How many times did that monster sexually assault you!?" She practically barked the question at him.

"No! He didn't!" Zell defended.

"You're obviously traumatized into thinking that it was okay for him to do that to you. You poor thing," the bitch cooed.

"No he's not like that!"

"Indeed he raped you numerous times upon your arrival to the castle?" Zell found himself sputtering again. "Precisely. Don't worry. We're going to get you medical attention as soon as possible."

No! "What do you mean?"

"If my calculations are correct. There is a beast growing inside of you. We will do everything we can to destroy your disease."

"No. you don't understand. This child...I-It-It's mine! I won't let you take it!"

She spoke into her device, "Subject is experiencing delusions of a sense of belonging to the child already forming a mental and physical bond with it. He is seriously traumatized from the events that took place a month before."

"What!? That's not it at all! I-"

"We have to move on. Now describe this other vampire to me. You said there were two, correct?"

Zell's eyes began to water with tears of fear and anger. "Um..." Blond hair, white trench coat, pain-filled green eyes "He um..." An image of a gunblade searing through a chest and splashing blood all over Zell's face filled his vision. Seifer! Zell could feel himself getting even more upset. He couldn't focus. This was too much!

"That will be enough for today. Thank you," she concluded the interrogation and began toying with the device on her wrist again.

The guards escorted Zell towards the door once more quite forcefully. Before he left though, he wanted some of _his _question answered too!

"When can I leave? Who are you? Where are Comfort and the others? Where am _I_?"

"Calm down. One question at a time."

Fine then. "Where am I?" he decided he'd start simple.

She moved from around the desk to answer his question. The sway of her hips moved with nothing less than sensual grace. Facing him properly she answered, "We are in a high powered underground facility. This is one of the main headquarters of S.E.E.D. We are located in the Albatross region.

"S.E.E.D.? What is that?"

"We are a biological research and development center for all paranormal defense units. Such as F.L.A.R.E." she explained. "They are one of our companies."

A company that controlled F.L.A.R.E.? Zell had thought all along that F.L.A.R.E was just the problem that he needed to worry about Apparently the family tree had just grown.

"When can I and the others leave."

"Well that depends entirely on how well you cooperate a_nd_ your test results."

"And who are _you _exactly?" he asked the last question with force, signifying that he had wanted to know for some time now.

"I'm in charge of the operation involving you and your associates. And I am the one who will be checking on all of you everyday. Making sure you are making progress. I'll also be ensuring your safety and security. May name is-"

Her forearm device beeped and vibrated wildly, cutting her next couple of words off. Zell scowled at it. She pressed a button and held it to the side of her head. "Understood. Right away." She clicked it off again and said: "Excuse me I have business to attend to." And with that she brushed past Zell (the security guards had moved out of the way) and headed out of the interrogation room. All that could be heard were her heels clicking down the vast white hallway.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! **FUCK!**

**Laharl**

The memorial service for the late vampire prince Squall had been held on a grand scale. Without a doubt, there would have been nothing less for the death of a prince in this kingdom. Laharl had taken care of everything in a most efficient time frame. It had barely been 3 days since Squall's assassination and everything looked marvelous. The kingdom was werewolf free and those who had been injured from the attack were quickly on their way to recovery.

The gloomy event took place outside in the great plains of the kingdom, relatively close to The Gardens. Laharl walked alongside King Laguna in front of the massive coffin that would serve as the scarred man's final resting place. It took a dozen men on both sides of of the giant artifact to carry it all the way from the castle to the plains. The worst part was having to lift that son of a bitch up that steep fucking hill. Laharl kept his facial expression emotionless the whole journey to the grave site, but on the inside he wanted to scream his head off. He also wanted to break things and maybe even kill people to make himself feel better. He was angry. And the person responsible for this would surely pay...

"Remember," Laguna began, still keeping up the pace next to him as they headed towards the grave site. "Vampires don't cry."

Laharl kept his gaze in front of him. This was something he already knew and only answered out of respect. "Yes, your highness."

The men carrying the coffin, placed it on top of the marble alter and once it was fully secure, they all moved from the alter and took their places off to the side, lifting their blades in salute to the late prince.

The guests had watched this process in silence. There were so many demons from all over, those who had lost family members and friends from the recent werewolf attack. Even the humans had come to pay their respects. Why wouldn't they? A Vampire Prince wedding himself to a male Hume? Excellent choice in a princess, they thought. And they highly respected Prince Leonheart for giving a human political power.

Once the alter was set, the band stopped playing, and the army finished its salute, the government gave its speeches and new titles were given to particular people in the kingdom. With the prince's death a lot of roles had changed significantly for some people, including Laharl.

When the funeral was over Laguna had pulled Laharl to the side and gave him orders on the upcoming war they would be starting soon...

He had been told to prepare his troops before they leave at dawn. Laharl was to locate the headquarters of F.L.A.R.E., and attack it head on. He was to round up the fugitives Irvine Kinneas and Seifer Almasy. If the fugitives Seifer Almasy and Irvine Kinneas could be located amidst of any of this, his orders were to capture Seifer alive and bring him back to the castle, where he would face the most ultimate forms of torture, and then execution. Irvine is to be killed on the spot along with his commander. Retrieval of the Prince Zell would be left to King Laguna.

This strategy was fine, but the other announcement that King Laguna had for Laharl was: "You are unofficially the new prince of Loire kingdom. Your inauguration will take place once this mission is complete." And so it was final...Laharl hadn't had a chance to respond, because the king was already halfway down the hill that led back to the palace.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," he said to himself.

Not only had he lost his best friend, but he would be taking his spot...it wasn't even right, but it made sense. Under normal circumstances it would be Zell taking over the throne as prince, but he wasn't available at the moment...and after Zell it would be the heir, but Zell's child hadn't been born yet.

Laharl knew that when the King and he set after F.L.A.R.E., they would serve them everything they deserved. Those bastards didn't know who they were fucking with...

The purple haired bombshell was going to start strutting back towards the castle to make preparations. Now that the funeral was over he could completely focus on his manhunt for Seifer and Irvine. If they thought that they could put a blade through his best friend and then ride off into the fucking sunset, they had another thing coming. Laharl was not going to kill them. He was going to maim their fucking existences, and make them wish he had never fucked with the Loires.

He had been imagining all of the horrible things he would do to Seifer when he had been distracted by that familiar dark power. He stopped right before he began descending the hill that led to the castle and looked to his left. He could see a shadowed figure (in broad daylight) lurking by a great oak tree. He began stalking towards it, knowing exactly who it was.

"It would have been nice if you had actually sat closer during the funeral. You know? Amongst other living and not so living people," Laharl scolded the man behind the tree.

"Funerals make me sad."

"But standing on the sideline and watching people be sad is creepy," Laharl reasoned.

Nida came from around the tree completely and sulked around the small area. He sat down at the stump of it and stared at the clouds.

"I don't like things that deal with people dying," he explained simply.

Laharl watched the Asian boy staring into the clouds. He seemed really out of it yet...so at peace with himself. "Is that why you saved me the other day? Even though you didn't have to..." Laharl asked. "Thank you by the way. I appreciate that."

Nida hadn't taken his eyes off of the sky . "You're welcome."

Laharl took a seat next to the quiet boy. Not caring if he got the butt of his suit dirty. "I don't like people dying either..."

"We sure have some pretty fucked up lives, then," Nida replied bitterly.

Laharl chuckled. "Yeah we do." The violet haired vampire brought his knees to his chest. This was the first time he had laughed since Squall died, he realized. He looked down at Nida's hands and then his leg and he glanced at his hip. He seemed so normal...but he knew first hand he was everything but. "So why are you still here?"

Nida shifted his body to mirror Laharl's. "I have nothing better to do.."

Laharl rolled his eyes at the other boy. "That can't be all of it..."

"Well I can't go back where I came from. I'm pretty sure I classify as something that they hunt now. I classify as a demon, even though I don't believe that I am one. I'm just Hungry."

Laharl shuddered and became silent in thought for a while before replying, "I don't think you are either...a demon that is..."

"Of course, they would never understand my new powers. They want to destroy anything too powerful, anything they don't understand," he explained. "I'm not about to let that happen. Besides...my best friend has forgotten about me."

Laharl could sense a bit of sadness from his voice. This was strange, he thought. Nida was still human, like when they had first met. He still had emotions and empathy, but he wasn't completely demonic, not like Laharl was anyway.

"How long have you worked for them?" Laharl asked.

"Since my freshman year. Don't worry though. I'm not sad about leaving. As you and I both know, I have outgrown them." The vampire felt Nida's power surge. It was a bit frighting.

"Well we could always use an extra strong hand here." Laharl offered."In fact we're just preparing for a mission involving the famous F.L.A.R.E."

Nida turned to face the boy finding himself staring into pools of violet orbs. Behind the set of beautiful eyes was the setting sun. If you could paint this picture, you wouldn't be able to tear your eyes away when it was finished. It was a masterpiece. "Oh really? Tell me more..."

**Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell...**

Time and space, two things that seemed to be infinite and stretch on forever. He didn't like it here in this vast...what would you call it? Realm? Dimension? Whatever...

There was only pitch black available for the man who laid on the ground in this dark realm. He had already begun to asses the situation right when his eyes began to flutter open. As he sat up on his knees swiftly, he could tell that he was naked in this darkness. What gave away his nakedness? The harsh breeze? The way he could feel shadows dancing all over his beautiful, lush ivory skin? He was barefoot as well and the floor underneath him didn't even feel real.

There was _some_ light. It appeared suddenly about 7...maybe 10 feet away (it was hard to tell the depth due to so much darkness) that glowed to life in front of him without sound. It made him squint his soft dark blue eyes, which scrunched up the scar on his forehead. That unfortunate battle scar right underneath his chestnut brown hair. Then to the right of that light another turned on. And another and another, until finally the man who had woken up had done a complete 360. The lights seemed to be attached to some sort of hard structures. He could soon tell that the structures being illuminated by these lights were podiums. He was standing in the middle of a courtroom.

Then the ground underneath him began to glow faintly. These lights were dimmed bright enough to make out shapes in the darkness, but weak enough to keep that same feeling of oblivion surrounding him...

Whispers and murmurs began to fill the room, disregarding the fact that he could finally see his own skin he yelled, "Show yourself!" He didn't like being fucked with like this. People whispering around him in the darkness like cowards. He'd tear their fucking faces off!

"All your life you have given orders. For centuries you have lived like this expecting nothing more than for people to bend to your every will. You think you can come into this land and command us to show ourselves?" The voice was strange. It boomed within the man's chest making him feel the bass of every syllable.

He squinted his eyes at the face above the podium. It came into view more and more as he squinted. It looked like a man, he thought. But he knew better. No, it was a higher being. It wasn't human no matter how much it sounded like it or moved like it. He looked around and those gray faces appeared at every podium now.

They all began to stare him down. Analyzing him, judging him..."Stay where you are!" He was commanded by them. It was like they read his mind. A part of him wanted to run and hide in the darkness. But the more he thought of doing that, the more he realized he could never escape these immortals. He knew exactly who and what they were.

He could tell by the authoritative and all knowing tone that they were judges. They were the Veruna. The ones painted on his stain glass on his ceiling in his bedroom. And he also realized he was being judged.

It all made sense now. His final memories came flooding back to his mind like a painful tidal wave. He felt his chest for confirmation and just as he suspected, his fingertips grazed over a slimy flesh wound and he could also feel it on his back. It was a clean stab. He had died, been killed to be precise by Seifer. Failure hit him like a speeding train and a tear of anger threatened to fall from his icy blue orbs. He wasn't mad because he was dead. He was upset because he had left Zell all on his own in the midst of all that danger. "Z-ze," he began to sob like a human.

"We are the keepers of the Law of the Demon World, we decide the just and the unjust," the booming voice introduced itself finally. The combination of this man's sobs combined with the harsh tones of these other demons made him feel like a child. Looking at him from a distance like this, though: That's all he really was. He was just a teenager. Looked no older than seventeen years of age. He had no facial hair and if it weren't for his muscles he would appear to be even younger.

"We are the Veruna and you are being judged. Commence," another spoke to its comrades. Every time they spoke, it was a different member of the council. It was as though they all had the same thoughts and spoke in unison.

"Your actions in your last life as a demon have earned you a spot right here in death's cold arms. You have been killed in cold blood protecting the one you love. A situation we have observed to be most..._odd_...for someone like you." The man moved his fingers away from his bloody chest. "EXPLAIN YOURSELF!"

He jumped back slightly fearing the voice when it snapped like that. His reaction and emotions were transparent, for they were those in which he wasn't accustomed. "I-I," He began. "I love him and I wanted him to live. So I protected him...I died, so he could live." The demons sitting at their podiums waited for the pathetic man to finish. He had slumped to his knees. His chestnut hair hanging over his eyes in shame when he spoke. "I didn't know what else to do..."

"You truly love him?" one of the demons spoke behind him. The man turned around and faced the one that addressed him.

"More than anything I've ever known. More than myself."

The demons communicated with each other. All at once their voices driving the man in the center of the courtroom insane. He could hear all of them but couldn't quite understand them. He wished they would just shut the fuck up and let him die!

"So be it," several of them all said at once. "We have an offer for you." He wiped his tears away and stared wide eyed at them awaiting their proposition.

"We're offering you a second chance in that world."

His heart skipped a beat as he stood up. This was really happening?

"You can return to that world, but there are rules. You must give _us _something in return."

"What do I have that you could possibly want?" he asked.

"We require the rest of your power, and _all _of your memories. Hand them over if you wish to continue living. Otherwise, you have another option: Pass on and never look back."

"My powers? My memories..."

"If you want to go back you will have to live your new life as a human. You will no longer be a demon and you will not remember anything in your previous life. It will be as though everything, and everyone has been erased clean. If you get cut, you will bleed. And eventually, you will grow old and die as a mortal being."

The man grew silent in the cold darkness. He was surrounded by a group of demons, but he still felt completely alone. "So...Laharl...my father, Zell...and everything. I'll just forget...is there a chance at all that I will see him again?"

"We do not deal in _chance,_" they spat the last word.

The man pondered on his thoughts once again, flicking his chestnut brown hair out of his eyes. "I see."

He could go back, but he would remember nothing and he would be human. He would be a stripped mortal. But if it meant he could see that Angel one more time..there was _still_ hope. That was something that had been taught to him before and during his final moments of living as a demon. He loved Zell. He had known that ever since he truly knew what it was. '_Something humans say to people they really cared about, people they would die for'. _This man cared about Zell so much, that he would die for him as many times as he needed to, even as a human.

With that being said: "I accept your offer. Even if it means wandering the Earth as a lost man for the rest of my life, if there's a chance that I will get to see Zell again I will take it! Even if I do forget him, I just want to see him again and possibly be with him. _HE_ is the one I want to fall in love with again, and again, and again!"

They looked upon the weak human in pity one last time. He was but a child throwing a tantrum at an amusement park "Then so be it."

The scarred man smirked in triumph. Yes! He could return to Zell. He could hold him again, make love to him again, kiss him and tell him everything would be okay. He could protect him like he was supposed to and raise his family as the father he was meant to be. The family that he dreamed about having with Zell. He wanted to have so many children with Zell. The boy was perfect and this time he would never let go...

"Hold your breath until you reach the surface. And once you are completely submerged, that will mean your memories and powers have been completely washed away," the Veruna explained to him. And with that last explanation they faded into the shadows.

The man stood up and braced himself for whatever was coming. At first there was nothing. He had thought he had been left completely alone in this abyss for all of eternity. He began to accept the loneliness, but then he felt this realm began to shake.

At first slightly, but it quickly became violent. It was almost so violent, he couldn't even stand. He fell several times so he decided he would just stay on the "ground". What was happening?

Then he began to hear the roaring. It was like there was an angry dragon coming in each and every one of his directions. He braced himself and if he had to fight his way out of hell in order to see Zell, he would. But he couldn't fight the forces of nature. Waves of fierce water came crashing at at him violently and quickly from out of every pocket of this vast darkness.

Water filled the dark void and crashed over his head, throwing him sideways violently. The man flipped and tumbled endlessly under the water trying desperately to hold his breath. He tried his best to swim to the surface, but it seemed impossible. He could feel his limbs becoming tired and his legs and feet became exhausted. His lungs were growing smaller and eventually he couldn't think of how he had gotten under this water in the first place.

Opening his eyes he saw everything around him was blue. Clear blue. And above him light. Light so bright that it was warm to the touch. The man drifted towards it, for he knew nothing else. Almost...almost...

**Zell**

The emotionally drained boy sat gloomily on the edge of his bed inside his fake ass apartment. Who was he kidding? This was nothing even close to an apartment or a home. This was a cell...a cage. These people trying to masque it with a sense of humaneness was just nerve racking and phony.

Looking around at this room in disgust reminded him of when he had been locked in his room back at the Kingdom of Loire. He thought about what happened after the first dinner with the Caraways. No matter where he went, he was a prisoner it seemed. It was depressing and he found that quite often he just wanted to go home. He missed his Ma.

He had been dragged out of his cell today, to be asked about his history and his relationships with Squall and Irvine. Why did they care so much about all that other shit? And when would this so called 'testing' begin? He had no one to talk to here. It drove him insane. At least when he had run away from home he had the _choice _of whether he wanted to try to make friends or not. Here, he was completely alone.

These people threatened to take away his child! He was completely barred off from the rest of the world and no one knew where he was. If they decided to kill him, they could do it! And they'd get away with it too, because no one knew where this facility was located and no one knew where he was. Shit, people didn't even know what this place was called. If people had never heard of F.L.A.R.E. they damn sure didn't know what S.E.E.D was. That woman had said underground, right? For all he knew that could have been garbage and he was on another fucking planet!

And poor Nuke and Comfort. Nuke would follow Comfort wherever she went, and Comfort really was one of Zell's only true friends right now, so of course she would want to make sure he was okay. And they couldn't even be free because of _him!_ He was so stupid and useless, everything was his fault!

Zell's tummy began to quease and rock unexpectedly.

He got up from his spot on the bed and power-walked to his "toilet".

He should have just ran when he had the chance back on those mountains. Seifer of _all_ people was the first person to actually tell the truth! He had warned Zell not to follow Irvine, but he had been just so damn stubborn. The whole "fucked up" side of the situation is that Seifer had genuinely tried to help Zell, he had cared about the younger boy, regardless of his ulterior motive (that he just wanted to Fuck Zell's brains out). The thought of Seifer actually doing something noble and the fact that Irvine kept fucking up really made Zell question his judgment of character.

But now he didn't have anyone...Squall, Seifer, _or_ Irvine. He emptied his guts into the toilet. Although the act of vomiting made him feel disgusting he felt so much better when it was over. He blew his nose and flushed the soiled tissue down the toilet. When he was done he looked at himself in the mirror above his spotless sink. He was pale and his eyes reminded him of a raccoon.

Turning his faucet on, he applied a splash of water to his face. Hopefully he could get some of his color back this way. He dried off with a towel and looked back in the mirror to check the results, but what he saw was not what he expected.

Staring back at him was his bloodied form again. "No!" he screamed.

"Stop screaming," Mell ordered his frightened counterpart and moving of his own accord. "It's just blood. I told you if you can't handle this situation, then let me out!"

"I don't want anything to do with you!" Zell argued with himself. "I don't even fucking know you!"

"Oh you know me very well, sweetheart. Remember the person who killed Rinoa? It wasn't you. It was me. The person who helped you jump over that cliff on the mountains: ME. The person who has been keeping you alive after every blow and every bullet your weak little human body takes: ME!"

"No. It's not you! It's my baby. My baby has been keeping me alive. Squall said so!"

"Squall can't prove anything now can he?"

Just then something clicked inside Zell's mind. "So you're saying, the reason I have vampire powers is because of you?"

Millenia smiled darkly. "Exactly. I'm the fearless part of you, Zell. The one that isn't afraid to take a life and stand up for what he believes in. You share these qualities too, I came from you after all, but if you can't handle the stress of being here you could hurt yourself, and more importantly, cause harm to your child."

"So then why didn't you help me save Squall when he was dying?" Zell accused with tears in his eyes now.

"What's done is done. Squall had turned human by then...there was no bringing a human back after a blow like that. It would have been a waste of our power. Now back to the matter at hand. You need to stop sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. You only leave that bed when someone tells you to and when your morning sickness strikes. It's fucking sad to watch. Stop being weak!"

Zell watched his reflection scream at him in anger. "Can you really get me out of here?" he asked hopefully.

"I can't do anything on my own. The rest is up to you. Make a choice. Bring me out so that I can help you, or stay here and suffer."

Zell could hear the door to his cell open and close. Footsteps could be heard behind him. He turned away from the mirror to see who was approaching.

"Is everything alright?" a soldier asked.

Zell's head turned back to his reflection, but he could see only his own reflection which had returned, still pale as ever. Like he had seen a ghost. "Oh you know...morning sickness. That's all," he pretended.

The scientist eyed him suspiciously. He nodded to the guards and they began to make their way out. "Try to keep the noise level down."

Zell had mouthed a silent, yet great big courageous "FUCK YOU" straight into the back of the guard's head before he left. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly the exhausted boy eventually he ran to his bed, and tucked himself in, hoping he wouldn't receive _any _more visitors for the night. He would stay away from mirrors for a while, he decided. They scared him and made him act like a crazy bitch.

He wished he could talk to Comfort or maybe even Laharl. Those two would know how to take his mind off of things. Comfort always made him crack up in laughter, and even though Laharl wasn't really Zell's close friend, he had taught him a lot and he'd know exactly what to do in a situation like this.

He hoped he and everyone was alright back at the castle...

**Laharl**

Hours after the funeral back at the castle, night time had finally fallen. People were busy in their own worlds preparing for the assault tomorrow. Ever since Squall's passing it was like the entire kingdom had become a lot more quiet, which really didn't make any sense. Squall had been a naturally quiet person, so it was like his presence had lingered and affected the entire kingdom. People were unconsciously putting on their late ruler's persona, even in death...

Although he found _slight_ interest in this slight change, none of this made a difference to Laharl. He had an army to lead, and he would have a war to fight soon after. Things were about to get ugly. Fast. In less than twelve hours, Laharl would initiate the full out assault on F.L.A.R.E's main operation(s). He had orders to execute Irvine Kinneas and Commander Martine on the spot, and he would succeed in these tasks flawlessly. Whoever was fool enough to get in his way, would be obliterated.

At the lovely and tranquil hour of midnight, he was getting some individual preparation done as well. He found himself in the Armory trying to decide on armor and weaponry. The armory was located deep beneath the castle, but not as far as the dungeon area. This had to be the quietest part of the entire castle. The only noises that could be heard were his footsteps as he paced around in thought, and the occasional clanking of metals as he toyed with various trinkets, and the soft playful dance of the flame-lit torches along the stone wall as his light source.

Earlier today, he had sent one of his crossbows to get calibrated and upgraded. Many of his soldiers were out getting last minute practice at the Arena, also. Tomorrow, his weapon would be ready and it would be used for battle as opposed to hunting. He planned on using it for group attacks. Speaking of crossbows, he remembered when he had first taught Zell how to use _his_. He smiled fondly at the memory and even chuckled. He had also taught Zell how to defend himself, dress, eat dinner with sophistication and even dance with his husband.

This classy vampire had taught that boy a lot. He wondered if this war would even be happening if Squall had chosen a different mate. Would Laharl still have to attack Galbadia if his best friend had chosen a female as his mate? Well, it really didn't matter because Zell belonged _here _and if Laharl had to be prince, he wouldn't do it alone. Zell would be by his side, because that is what he _knew _Squall would want.

He was deep in thought about choosing the correct explosives when all of a sudden he had felt a power surge behind him. His fit body whirled around with a start ready to fight, but he was met with nothing but dark eyes and friendly smiling Asian features.

"What the fuck? Why are you just standing behind me not saying anything?" Laharl accused his intruder.

"You seemed distracted I didn't want to frighten you," Nida reasoned.

"Yeah, well you failed."

"What are you doing down here?"

"Trying to choose the best items for slaughtering an entire army of humans. What are _you _doing down here?"

"Looking for you. I got bored." Even when Nida spoke in normal tones Laharl could feel the power surging off of him, it was big and immense. "Are you okay?"

Laharl snapped out of it. "Yeah," he said normally while moving away slightly to create distance between himself and the awkward Asian boy. "Just a little nervous I guess."

"About the battle? Relax. Just use the information I gave you." Nida stepped closer closing the huge gap between them again. He caressed Laharl's arm, his touch was shocking against Laharl's pale skin, causing the slim vixen to jerk his arm away harshly.

"Okay do me a favor: Your strength is suffocating; could you turn it down a bit?" he shot with a wide eyed glare.

Nida just stared at him unresponsively for a bit and Laharl could feel the boy's aura softening. "All you had to do is say so. I guess I was wrong in thinking you were attracted to it?"

Wait a second. Laharl scoffed and narrowed his eyes. "And what gave you that idea?"

"Most demons are drawn to my overwhelming aura of dominance. I see the way you act when I'm around. Even though you try to act like you can't _feel_ my power."

Laharl straightened up defensively. "There are many forms of _power_ in the world, but only a fool goes after _your_ kind."

"Is that right? I never asked for this power. It's a gift and a curse: I'm infected with the powers of evil, because I lost someone very important to me to the forces of evil. Cold blood is contagious. And now I have this insatiable appetite...for murder and the feeling of blood against my skin and in my hair. I'm just beginning to understand it myself..." Nida explained.

"But that is your _choice_. I've lost someone too, remember? And I'm not letting that loss consume me. I _choose_ vengeance because it needs to be served, and when it _is_ served I will..." He wanted to say he would go back to the way he was. To being happy, but he knew nothing would _ever_ be the same again now that Squall was gone. "You don't have to live like this if _you don't want to_," he summarized.

"You really think I can go back?" Nida seemed to have latched on to every word that passed Laharl's thin lips.

"Only when you're ready. Now if you'll excuse me...I have a war to prepare for." Laharl grabbed and huge handful of the explosives behind him and walked around Nida. The dark haired boy turned around and watched him walk away up the wide staircase that led back to the main floor of the castle. The sway of the vampires hips was hypnotizing in a way...

Laharl and Nida. They had both lost someone, and they were both going to do something about it, the only difference was that Laharl had made it his '_choice' _to act on his own vengeance. Whereas Nida's let his control him to a degree.

Nida would have to make his own choices too and depending on which choice he made, he just might not survive tomorrow. He would have to face Irvine for sure. This was something he could feel in his heart that was still beating.

Irvine represented Nida's past and he knew there was no way that he and the gunman could maintain a friendship as long as Nida remained non-human. He could also never return to F.L.A.R.E.

Martine, Irvine and F.L.A.R.E.: these were but small fragments of the past now...

Then there was Laharl, who seemed to be a shining ray of light and in a lot of ways he represented a _future_ for Nida, but he just couldn't figure out why the vampire gave him hope. He definitely opened up new possibilities for the Asian. The boy was even generous enough to give him a place to stay here at the castle. He had taken the time to get to know him and meanwhile, Nida had even given Laharl information on the F.L.A.R.E. facilities, which had automatically pinned him on the enemy side of F.L.A.R.E. By giving the Loire kingdom confidential information, it gave them an advantage of what the F.L.A.R.E. Facilities looked like from the outside and inside. It made it easier for Laharl to plan an educated attack.

He sighed and watched as the flame-lit torches along the walls danced. They reminded him of the emblem of F.L.A.R.E. The only thing it was missing was a monster burning inside of it. Things became much clearer to him from this sign. Is that all he was? A monster that needed to be burned?

One thing was certain: Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day. One that would change everything.

**TBC...**

**A/N: Yadda yadda yadda! Blarg blarg! I'm sad we couldn't get to much action in this chapter. I really hope there's some in the next one *crosses fingers*. Anyway what do you guys think of the chapter? A lot going on, huh? *giggles devilishly*. DONT FORGET TO REVIEW! They make me smile! Until next time XPPPP**


	24. Friday Night Lights pt 1

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Summary: All Zell wanted was to live a normal life. That's kinda hard when you have two male vampires Seifer and Squall hunting you down and wanting to mate with you. To make maters worse, Zell finds himself falling for the charming vampire hunter Irvine. Will he ever get a break?**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell**

**A/N: Hello! First off I wanted to say thank you for the reviews! **

**And I also want to give a Shoutout to a few of my readers. **

**Rovy: his/her review made me extremely happy, and I love those of you who have been following me from the very beginning so many years ago.**

**BreeAn and Shalonda: It's always nice discussing the story with you guys you give me the most insight as outside readers. You both are fabulous! I love our little book club meetings at work where we just stoop working and begin talking about our favorite characters! 3 3**

**3. ****Nightmare Senshi****: I appreciate you messages lately and your reaction when you thought the story got moved.**

**I know some of you wanted me to reply to you directly, but unfortunately if you post your review as a guest I can't reply to you directly because there is no email attached to them XP It's all good though 3 **

**I was asked if I would ever put Squall and Seifer in a romantic relationship together. My answer: No, at least not in this story I don't see that happening. However, I ****_have_**** written that pairing in another story here on this site it's called A Brother's Kiss, go check it out if you're looking for something sweet and spicy at the same time *wink*.**

**Also there was a question about whether I'm a guy or a girl and the answer to ****_that _****is that I am a guy and definitely not ashamed to admit it. If you want proof of my gender (lol) visit the facebook url in my fanfiction dot net profile. I'm all male, baby and don't hesitate to add me either, because I love having another method of communication with my readers. The only thing I enjoy more than writing this story is discussing it with all of you awesome people! Seriously...because in some aspects I have no life LOL!**

**Anyway on with the chapter. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and you will be able to tell when you read it. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing under Final Fantasy VIII or anything that belongs to Square -Enix**

**Chapter 24: Friday Night Lights Part 1**

**Laharl**

Nevermind the fact that the sun had not even risen yet. There was a full army out in the courtyard of the Loire Castle waiting for orders. It had quickly filled with vampires and humans alike- the dedication that the vampires of Esthar had for their Kingdom showed in the number of people just outside the front castle doors. It was massive.

The crowd murmured in anticipation, but fell silent only moments later. Here comes one of its leaders now. The double doors to the Foyer opened outwards and a slender body attached to a head of thick violet hair emerged from inside the castle and set foot on the stone steps that led down to the courtyard. Behind him, you could see the King, his two body guards Kiros and Ward stood on either side of him.

The king had a serious look on his face, the people of the nation hadn't seen his cheerful disposition for days. There was definitely a good reason too. The man _had _to be pissed underneath that smile.

One of his guards was slender and effeminate, with mocha colored skin and smooth long curly strands of hair that was wrapped in a pony tail and the rest fell around his face. That's Kiros. Adjacent from Kiros walked a man who had skin as tough as stone, he carried a huge anchor behind his back and whenever he took a step you could hear his steel-bottomed boots hitting concrete. This is Ward.

And there _he_ stood: Loire Kingdom's new face of hope. He represented youth, prevalence and leadership. Strands of his hair blew behind him in the morning wind and his violet eyes winced at the slight morning wind. His young facial features stood out more than ever now and his high cheekbones and sharp chin were a lot more noticeable when he had his hair tied back.

Laharl stood erect overlooking his army proudly. A cheer erupted from every soldier in the courtyard accompanied by rounds of applause and whistles when they saw him. Even though he hadn't slept all night Laharl basked in it. He had been so busy preparing for this moment all last night, but looking at his people's reactions he knew the preparation had been worth it.

He could tell that they wanted to avenge their former prince just as much as he did. They also wanted their _other_ prince back too. The _HUMAN_ one. Apparently it was irrelevant that Zell only ruled as a leader for like a day or two, he had showed his faithfulness to the Loire Kingdom when he stood up during the invasion of the werewolves of Moontown and the assault from Seifer and that F.L.A.R.E. member.

The fact that the people were willing to go to war for Zell pleased Laharl, this would make his fleet even stronger, and stronger meant _deadlier._

"Good morning everyone," the young commander greeted his army. "As leading commander of this fleet, it is my _job_ to inform you that there's a good chance that half of you will not be returning back home. I will sugar-coat _nothing_. Our enemy is highly trained for the situation that is about to befall them. They have weapons built just for our blood. If you want to live, the solution is simple: Be _faster_, _stronger_ and _TRUST _YOUR ARMOR!" Laharl yelled the last three words of his speech for emphasis which caused another wave of cheers and applause.

He continued, "They may have methods of defense and offense and they make _think _that they can hunt us," this statement caused laughter from the crowd. Laharl raised his index finger in the air signifying he was about to contradict with emphasis. "But we are the **_real_** hunters! We've been hanging them up on our walls in our living rooms as trophies for centuries, harvesting their bodies as tools of breeding and feeding. Now I ask you, 'Who is hunting who!?'"

Their answer was more barbaric chanting! "We head out on this the Twenty First of October to remind these humans that they are the _Game_, and we are the marksman and it shall remain this way!" More cheering. This was good. He was building their morale immensely. Now for the home-run.

He continued this next part sincerely. "Let's teach them what happens when someone hurts our family! When someone takes something that doesn't belong to them. In the name of Squall Leonheart, my best friend and one of the _greatest _princes this nation will have ever seen, we will honor his memory and bring back his heart, our prince: Zell Dincht. And we will slaughter ANYONE who gets in our way!" They exploded louder than ever now with Laharl's closing statement. The sound of metal sliding against sheaths could be heard. They had raised their swords and weapons high in the air ready for battle.

Laguna smirked with pride. Without a doubt this boy was a prodigy. There was a reason he had always considered Laharl a son, and this was it. He easily filled Squall's boots and was leading this army like he was born to do so. In a time of crisis, he had stood out. Destiny...

Laguna had seen for years how Squall stole the spotlight from Laharl. It was never an intentional thing, Laharl just needed to learn patience. Good things came to those who wait. Well, now he had the spotlight. Now make good use of it.

Like always, over yonder in the shadows, Nida could see the sun rising in the East from his position of the castle. Laharl was truly a magnificent sight right now more than ever. His energy had done something for everyone here in the courtyard, but in particular it did something to the Asian boy. Heightened his emotions? Piqued his sexual interest? He wasn't sure, perhaps both. He hadn't felt this invigorated after Quistis died and he finally realized why.

Those moments when Nida really felt like it was possible to go back to his formerly happy self, Laharl had always been the one to trigger that feeling. He didn't know why, it was strange the things he felt towards the vampire. He had to get to the bottom of this and Laharl was turning more and more into the shape of a key.

Nida lifted his head in the air in curiosity. Arching his right eyebrow in question, he immediately froze. He looked back at everyone else around him. The vampires were still too busy cheering for their commander. They hadn't even noticed that sweet overbearing smell.

Then he wondered. Was it possible to smell blood before it was spilled? Because he could smell lots of it...and it was coming from the direction of Galbadia. South.

**Nida**

He watched as Laharl finished giving his speech. Not to his surprise, he noticed that he was turned on to the slim vampire. There were just things about him that attracted Nida. Laharl had explained last night that _there are many forms of power_, and he was right. It didn't take brute force for Laharl to lead this army, he conveyed his leadership skills through his confidence and it definitely showed.

Laharl had stepped aside and the King took his spot where Laharl had stood. Everyone quieted down wanting to hear what the king had to say. He spoke, "Your new prince has spoken. I the king will be joining you on this battle. We will show the humans that _we _are a family, and will continue to protect our right as demons no matter what."

The crowd murmured in confusion. Did he just say, their _new_ prince? Nida was wondering the same thing, but realized that it _did_ make sense. Since Squall had been killed in battle and Zell was nowhere to be found, it made sense that the new prince would be someone who was close to Squall. Who other than his secretary?

"Godspeed," the king concluded.

Once all the speeches had been finalized, everyone headed hastily towards the Craft Dock to get ready for lift-off. The Craft Dock was located opposite of the Cemetery and the Gardens in a big wide plateau that overlooked the mountains. This was where the aircraft of the castle was located and where they operated on the machinery and performed maintenance and upgrade on the engines.

As they got closer, Nida could make out the smell of jet fuel and gunpowder. There were about 30 ships here that Nida could see in plain sight (he was sure there were more probably underground). Nida frowned when he saw that ALL of them were being prepared for take-off. Everyone hustled to their assigned aircraft. The ships housed at least 35-40 people judging by how many soldiers were running into the ships and getting themselves strapped in. Most of the ships were all black and looked like they could take a lot of damage. It was amazing how advanced vampires were, Nida observed. These airships looked just as good as F.L.A.R.E.'s if not better.

"You coming or what?" Laharl asked breaking the Asian boy out of his musings as he ran past Nida. He was headed for his own ship, which was located all the way at the edge of the plateau. Nida sprinted after the bouncing violet pony-tail as soon as he saw it.

He had been wondering which ship he should get on, and Laharl had the answer it seemed. It was as though Laharl wanted Nida to follow him on this ship. Tease.

They headed towards an airship that was marked with silver linings all over it. It was different than most of the others and he knew this is the one that belonged to Laharl. "The Blood Streak" was written on the side of it.

The footsteps of soldiers banged loudly on the metal ramp that led up to the deck of the ship. Once Nida stepped in, he immediately felt out of place. It wasn't a horrible thing, it was just that everyone who was here was about to embark on a journey that they were passionate about, and Nida didn't know if he was passionate about the right thing. They all wanted to avenge their fallen prince and retrieve their princess back. He didn't _share_ the same goal as the people around him, because he wasn't a member of the kingdom. When all this shit happened he had just been passing by because he smelled battle and the blood of werewolves.

He hated admitting it, but he was only going because he thought he would get the chance to kill again. He was so desperate to rip something apart at this point, he didn't care if it was a werewolf or not. The part of him that still remained human knew it was wrong to feel like this. The old him would never agree to such horrific thoughts, but it was clear that ever since Quistis died, he just wasn't the same and probably never would be-

"Hello? Earth to Nida!"

He snapped from his thoughts to be met with a pair of scowling violet orbs. "Huh?"

"Snap out of it and get in your seat." The tone of Laharl's voice brought him back to reality, and jolted the Asian boy's dick to life slightly.

"Yes, of course." He had managed to hide his erection and move around people who were trying to find a seat and finally found his. After he strapped himself in he took a long deep breath. All of a sudden he felt a lot more tense than before.

**Zell**

It was way too early for this shit, Zell thought as he had been dragged roughly out of bed. There were really no windows that showed the outside world, therefore it was hard to make out what time it was, but he _knew it _had to be before seven in the morning.

When they had placed him in this "cell" he knew they had not only put him under surveillance, but they had also PURPOSELY neglected to put a clock in his room, that way he wouldn't have _any_ sense of time.

After he had been given a chance to eat a disgusting grainy breakfast (he had really been craving a hotdog these past few days), wash and brush his teeth, he was handcuffed again and escorted down those fucking bright ass hallways under those damn laser-like ceiling lights again. Ugh they were even more intense when his eyes hadn't fully opened for the day.

He was being escorted...again to an unknown location. No more interrogations please! He didn't think he would be able to handle that crazy bitch this early in the morning.

He was surrounded by the same number of Galbadian soldiers, those same damn power blocking handcuffs, and passing (what seemed to be) the same office rooms, restrooms and elevators. Finally, they took one of the high powered elevators and rode it down further into the facility. They got off at a floor called "-900". After that he had been led to two electronically powered steel double doors. They were massive.

One of the guards in front of him took out his badge and unlocked the massive doors. Zell could hear the electronic beeping and heard the mechanism click inside and the levers began moving, separating the two heavy pieces of metal apart from each other.

With doors this reinforced, he was scared to see whatever waited for him on the other side. He caught himself holding his breath until he was once again jabbed in the back by the butt of a guard's gun pushing him forward into what he finally identified as a laboratory.

The pressure from the blunt object had awoken him fully now. He turned around swiftly and glared at the masked man. "I told you before not to do that you stupid dick!" The only result in his temper tantrum was another shove into the large room with another soldier's rough gloved hand. His arm was grabbed a little too firmly by the guard who had opened the double doors and he was dragged roughly inside.

It was the same format as last time: Four guards stayed outside, while two escorted him in. Was all this security and precaution even necessary? He was just one fucking small ass boy, with NO powers. They all deserved medals of honer, he thought sarcastically.

It was definitely a laboratory, Zell only identified it as such because of the technicians he saw working inside, and their uniforms: White lab coats, safety goggles and check lists. Also, there was the soft hum of computers and various bins where chemicals and chemical waste compartments were stored. There were also cabinets along the wall. The room had been built as though it were a giant amphitheater.

Zell felt cold air rush up his lab gown hitting him in his private parts and giving him goosebumps. There were at least three-dozen scientists that Zell could see in plain view, but he knew there had to be many more behind the scenes. They was jus' hiding in the various rooms that led from this main one.

At the moment they were all preoccupied with whatever current task they were working on, so they hadn't noticed Zell just yet.

The two guards walked on either side of Zell, the one with a grip on the tattooed boy had yet to release his rough gloved hand from Zell's smooth skinny arm.

The heavy boots of the soldiers' footsteps became louder as they walked further into the laboratory, causing scientists to finally acknowledge their presence. As he walked, Zell looked over his shoulder and noticed that the doors were closing on him. What little bit of light from the white corridors that flooded into this massive room there was, it slowly faded away becoming slimmer and slimmer until finally it really had turned into a dim-lit slaughter house with moving flasks and humming machines...Fuck...

Zell's bare flesh had suddenly become very cold and he also became even more aware that he was naked underneath his paper-like gown. He had all of the scientists' attention now (unfortunately and they were staring at him with piqued interest. He could hear some of them whispering and he could even smell something strange in the air. Fear? Curiosity? Deviousness? A mixture of everything? Whatever it was it was thick and it had to be coming from this large group of people.

His bare feet had become planted in the cold grainy floor. They were immediately drawn to him and started closing in on him like he were some sort of new discovery they couldn't wait to get their hands on.

They seemed to be edging closer to him by the second until he could finally see all of their faces clearly. They were ugly, middle aged, balding and hungry-looking, and Zell must have looked like some puny animal they were all going to gang up on and eat. They were like zombies with their curious groaning whispers. He had had enough of this Twilight Zone shit!

"Could I get some clothes please?" he blurted, breaking the wave of weirdness.

This caused the whispering to stop. There was silence...and then an eruption of laughter amongst everyone in a white lab coat. Zell's skin flushed completely red. They were laughing at him! Ugh.

Just then, a man (one Zell must have overlooked because he hadn't seen him amongst any of the other scientists) emerged from behind the "horde" of hungry employees. "Get back to work, you mangy pack of wolves!" he shouted at them.

To Zell's delight, they all scattered like cockroaches back to their original positions and finally the smell in the room became bearable for him.

The man continued to approach him, only as he got closer he became smaller and smaller and smaller until finally: "BAHAHAHahaha!"

All of the scientists turned to see what was so funny. From their point of view, Zell was hunched over holding his stomach and laughing his ass off. But from Zell's point of view...

"Did I say something funny?" The man asked.

Zell had to bend his neck at an angle to look at the man in the eye. This guy had a big mustache that covered the whole length of his face, and it even stuck out off to the sides of his cheeks. It was absolutely ridiculous.

He had a plump little belly that stuck out of his red cardigan sweater and a long bird-hook nose, with those big gaping nostrils that looked like faucets and needed a good pair of clippers(gross).

But here was the icing on the cake: This is what made Zell completely lose his shit. Being only 5'3" (and proudly growing into what he hoped would be a 5'4") Zell was highly amused to the fact that this man was _shorter_ than him. _Much_ shorter. He was at _least_ three fourths of what Zell was.

When he had finally caught up to himself and controlled his laughter, he realized he had been asked a question. "Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"I _said,_ did I say something funny?"

Zell had just realized how rude he was being. He needed to stop acting like that. Its wasn't polite to laugh at people, his Ma had raised him better. _This_ shit however, was classic. He rarely ever met people who were shorter than him and where twice his age! Haha!

"I am so sorry, sir," Zell managed to spit out quickly. "I think I'm just hysterical is all," he lied.

"Ah I see. That is normal." The man chippered up quickly, relieved that he wasn't the object of humor. "Welcome to the Bio-research lab here of the S.E.E.D. facilities! This is where you will undergo your testing. My name is Doctor Odine! And you, of course must be Zell Dincht."

"Yeah," the tattooed boy replied. "That's me."

"Splendid!" This popcorn shrimp of a man had a funny accent that Zell had difficulty placing. It was also slightly irritating. "Right this way, then."

The tiny doctor turned around and started walking towards a metal spiraling staircase that led up to a room with a long window. Zell stepped forward to follow but something unnecessary happened before he could even reach the first step of the staircase.

Sigh...even though the whole fucking world knew that Zell didn't have a choice in the matter, this dick of a rent-a-cop still decided to nudge the small boy in his spine with that FUCKING rifle again. That does it! He thought.

Zell wouldn't be needing his hands to be free for this. Without hesitation he round-housed the soldier in the head (which by the way the soldier was at least a foot taller than Zell. So for his leg to reach this guard's head was really a site to see) sending him clamoring to the floor.

**!SLAM!**

No one had expected that. The shocked guard banged his head on the ground and his glass visor shattered upon contact with the floor.

Immediately, Zell knew that the soldier's ass-buddy would try to come in and get revenge on Zell/teach him a lesson for attacking his pal, but the small blond was two steps ahead already. The second soldier only took two steps before, the little fighter sent his other foot into his groin, causing the man to lose the air from his lungs and double over in pain.

**!WHOOMPH!**

While the man watched stars dance in front of him, Zell took the bottom of his other foot and smashed it into the man's exposed mouth knocking him backwards on the floor. A trail of blood sprinkled on the ground signifying that Zell had busted his lip.

**!SMASH!**

(Zell was smiling on the inside and silently thanking God for Laharl)

Everyone watched him in horror and curiosity as he turned swiftly to the first soldier still on the ground Zell said angrily, "I told you not to mess with me you stupid fucking dick-Ahhhh!"

Something sharp bit Zell's right ass cheek. He was feeling the effects of what he instantly knew was a tranquilizer. Fucking...cow...ards... he hadn't even felt himself hit the cold floor, whatever they were putting in these tranqs was some pretty heavy shit...Who the hell had even shot him?

The last thing that Zell remembered seeing was Doctor Odine's pointy dress shoes headed toward his limp form. He made sure to call the man a midget before he passed out completely. Looking on the bright side, at least he got to go back to sleep...

**Selphie and Fujin**

Friday morning had arrived and the two girls had been half-scurrying and half-lounging around in Selphie's dorm. Fujin had _just_ finished making the bed and cleaned up her left over breakfast trash. Selphie had been nice enough to let her silver haired companion spend the night and sleep in her old dorm-mate's bed. She had even picked up breakfast from Gulladog.

A part of her had wanted to go to Gulladog because she hadn't been in forever. The other part wanted to see if Irvine would be there... he wasn't though, sadly.

She would call him later perhaps, because she finally felt like maybe she was ready to talk to someone and reconnect with an old friend. This was a breakthrough in her emotional record over the past month or so. She _did _miss her cowboy friend.

Fujin on the other hand was running low on money and she just couldn't keep paying to stay in motels. The amazing thing (and something Fujin hadn't expected) was that Fujin hadn't even asked if she could crash here, Selphie had offered a helping hand. Thank God for her, because if she didn't, Fujin would have had to go back to sleeping in parks...

"I feel like it would do you some good. Food, dancing, maybe even drinks? Oh and boys too..." Fujin added. She had been trying to convince Selphie reasons to go out and have a good time tonight, which was proving to be difficult so far. Selphie just laid on her bed flipping through a magazine about fall fashion and hadn't even responded.

"Oh and it's Halloween season! I know there are bound to be costume parties tonight. It's Friday after all!" Fujin forced herself to sound excited about the topic, when in reality she could care less about that clubby teen girl nonsense...

"I'm just not up for it..." Selphie said in a bored tone. After Fujin plopped her toosh down on the mattress, Selphie looked up from her magazine and said, "Hmmm. Okay how about this: I'll go, but only if you come with me."

If Fujin were more familiar with what laughter actually felt like, she probably would've been losing her shit right now. Instead she just stared at the girl laying in the bed across from her. "Huh?"

Selphie sat up on her knees on her bed. "Come with me tonight!" she repeated.

"Um..." The thought of herself being in a club full of dumb drunk teens really made Fujin feel some type of way. "Do I have to dress and dance like a slut and flirt with guys?" If she had to act like a shameless whore then you could just count her out.

Selphie laughed, knocking her magazine over. "No, you Negative Nancy. It's a completely different perspective!" Fujin obviously had the wrong idea about what going out and having a good time meant, Selphie noticed. "You can dress _sexy _for yourself-n_ever_ for someone else. Being sexy, believe it or not, is a way to empower yourself as a woman because it builds character and confidence. As far as dancing, just move your hips to the beat and while you're at it, yes: FLIRT with boys. That's all it is is flirting. Let them buy you drinks and pay for your food and stuff, there's nothing wrong with it..."

"But if I accept things from them they'll think I'm reciprocating their advances. Do I have to sleep with them if they buy me things?"

"NOOOOO!" Selphie screamed dramatically loud (she almost shattered her window -_-) "You never go home with them! That means you're a whore if you do!" Selphie liked to have fun but she wasn't a slut and didn't associate with sluts either. It ain't classy to be a hoe.

Fujin scrunched her face up at the thought. She didn't want to be considered a whore..she didn't like whores...

The one-eyed girl looked to the side. "Hmmm okay I guess I'll check it out."

Selphie leaped for joy and landed on top of Fujin. "Yaaaayyy!" she cheered. "I have an awesome dress you can borrow, you'll love it!" Umf! You're squishing me!" Fujin's muffled voice could be heard from underneath the skinny brunette. They were in for some fun tonight!

**Xu**

The toned, blonde woman walked down the hallway with her famous heels clicking. She was not alone this time. Her very own personal assistance accompanied her towards the room of one of her targets. Her assistance was a young soldier. This young soldier's name was Xu and there were many unique features about this young lady.

First off, she had a lot in common with the woman she assisted. She too had graduated at the top of her classes, much like her superior. She was an expert in martial arts and aircraft engineering.

Her skinny legs hustled to keep up with the strong blond woman who walked slightly ahead of her, her jet black pony tail bouncing furiously the whole time.

Secondly, she was the youngest soldier in the ranks of S.E.E.D. At only 6 years of age, her parents had been brutally slaughtered, leaving little Xu to fall back into the foster system. Luckily (but still unfortunately) her parents' deaths were demon-related and S.E.E.D had looked into it.

This facility has been her home ever since S.E.E.D. took her under their wing, and now she lived it and breathed it and was fully dedicated to it. Which was excellent in the blonde woman's eyes. Xu listened to everything she told her to do, and for obedience and discipline to be instilled this early on was something a corporation like S.E.E.D. couldn't let get go to waste.

On the way to the elevator the pair passed several other soldiers twice their ages being stupid and reckless. Of course they snapped back into work mode when they saw that full head of blonde hair and heard those dangerous heels storming down the halls. They saluted and passed by trembling under their armor. She picked Xu over these other bone-heads to assist her any day.

And it wasn't like she _needed_ protection, but it was mandatory for someone of her status to bring muscle with her on certain occasions. She had made sure Xu stayed behind for her last mission because it was only an extraction mission; the girl simply wasn't needed.

They had rode the elevator down to -900 and when they got off, they headed for the main laboratory. The Bio-research lab. The four soldiers standing outside the metal electronic doors saw the pair of women coming down the hall. They braced themselves to move out of the way once they got closer. They did so and saluted, having many thoughts of jealousy as to why a teenager got the privilege to follow one of the most successful S.E.E.D. Aagents around while they were stuck babysitting laboratory doors and little blond boy-bitches.

They entered the laboratory passing working scientists and made their way up towards the room where her Target was being Tested. The blinds had been pulled down so no one could see into the big window of the testing room. When she entered the room she was shocked at what she saw.

The Dincht boy was laying on a table, clearly passed out from drugs and restrained with the demonic-inhibitors.

"Who gave you orders to subdue the target?" she barked at Doctor Odine. Xu smirked as she closed the door behind her. The shrimp doctor was about to get it.

Doctor Odine turned from his chair and explained in an unapologetic fashion, "The boy became unstable. We had to put him down if we wanted to get any testing done." If there was anyone amongst S.E.E.D. who wasn't scared of this woman, it was Doctor Odine.

"I told you not to underestimate a demon," she said smugly.

"It got pretty ugly. He almost seriously put Biggs and Wedge in the Medical Wing."

"Nevermind that. I want to hear his prognosis and status."

"Rr-right away ma'am." Well, he was _almost _not scared of her.

Xu smirked at the man's fear he held for her superior. He was slimy anyway...

The small doctor shuffled his little feet over to his laptop and hooked it up to one of his projector screens. It displayed all of Zell's biological statistics and graphs.

His biological makeup and X-ray interchanged on the screen. "Here we can see that he is definitely human, carrying the correct amount of chromosomes and organs etcetera, etcetera," he explained clearly enough for people who didn't speak science lingo. (He knew if he had spoken to her like she was one of his colleagues he would just piss her off and become impatient.)

"And here we can see the pregnancy that tested as positive."

She stood up straight. Her fears had become true. "Schedule abortion immediately," she told him.

"Yes ma'am. However, there is more!" .

"What is it?" Xu listened intently with confusion written on her face that was identical to her superior's.

"I would like for you to take a look at these brain scans," he said handing her copies of photo-paper. He showed her a picture of a skull. "This is what a normal human brain looks like," he explained. "And this is what Zell's brain looks like." He handed her another image.

"What's this mark right here?" she asked. The tip of her finger pointed to a strange abnormality located near the top of Zell's crown.

"That mark is a crack in the part of Zell's brain that deals with the disassociation of things in reality. They're his coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, I discovered the crack while performing his X-rays," he trailed off momentarily as if he were trying to think of something. "I've never seen this on a Target that was brought here at S.E.E.D. The crack strongly resembles the strand of a rare psychological disorder.

"Meaning?" Xu could sense she was becoming impatient and getting tired of the man's discovery rant.

"D.I.D."

"..."

"Dissociative Identity Disorder," he clarified.

She grew silent for a moment as if in thought. "I see. It makes sense now," she trailed off remembering when she studied her Target's odd behavior. The image of him walking around his room in his sleep and arguing with himself in the mirror. She had watched the surveillance tapes over and over looking for an answer to this strange behavior. He wasn't talking to himself, she thought. He was talking to someone who he thought was living inside of him. Either way, she still thought the boy just wasn't right.

Then she remembered something in Agent 12's report. He had mentioned something about the Target going by another alias: Ellie. He was definitely suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Or so that was what the medical term was. To her, he was just even more of a freak who needed to be _terminated _immediately.

She almost felt sorry for Dincht. She looked over at the sleeping boy. He was drooling and sleeping with his mouth open. He had been through so much. Rape, killings, murders, involuntary rises to power and being away from home for so long. It was no wonder he went crazy, he developed another personality to help him cope with the trauma.

"You had also said something about him being a demon. Well you're wrong, he may display vampiric abilities, but the boy is still one-hundred percent human. My hypothesis is that he is channeling these powers from his vampire fetus and once the pregnancy is either terminated or complete, these abilities will cease and he will return to being physically stable."

She seemed to have heard nothing as she looked over at Zell's unconscious form over on the examination table. He looked so ordinary, human, weak... One would never expect a monster to be growing inside that tummy of his. Then to make matters worse he was displaying psychological dysfunction and a violent behavioral pattern. She couldn't let him loose in the human world...

"A demon is a demon," she concluded flatly. "When he wakes up, inform him of his abortion, but not his termination. Then schedule him for termination after he becomes stable." Xu listened to her superior's orders. Sometimes she just didn't have a heart.

Dr. Odine bounced with shock. "Ma'am, doesn't that seem a bit harsh? Have you looked further into the situation? Maybe you should consider contacting Agent 12 for more details."

"Kinneas?" She spat. "I tried contacting him for interrogation yesterday, his status shows that he is away on a mission. He's searching for his former partner." Ah now she remembered. "Apparently he became a demon and now Kinneas has to go terminate him. You know how these situations work. Which is why I'm not taking a chance with this Dincht boy."

Doctor Odine frowned. "Well like I said, he is not a demon and abortion will be more than enough to-

"If you want to keep your job, schedule the goddamn Termination!" she barked.

"Y-y-es ma'am."

She flipped her hair. "I will be back when he regains consciousness to make sure everything is running as planned. His associates: The girl, the boy, _and_ the child. Schedule them for termination as well. Risk _nothing._" The woman bounced towards the exit, stomping her heels particularly louder than usual.

Xu's feet planted themselves in the floor as she examined the sleeping boy's face. He really didn't look dangerous, she thought. He looked weak, and if his eyes were open he'd probably just look scared and angry.

They were going to terminate him just because he made a wrong choice? Because a vampire had used him for breeding?

"Xu, come!" the woman barked called..

Xu jumped slightly. "Right away ma'am. So sorry." She trailed behind her deadly superior. She had always followed orders and she would continue to do so, even when she _knew _something didn't feel right.

**?**

Minutes later, at exactly 10 AM this Friday morning, you would find that deadly woman strutting down those sterile-looking white hallways, her womanly figure bouncing towards her new destination. Right now she was headed towards the section of the facility where people who weren't suspected of infection were held. They were called living quarters.

A few yards down from the quarters was a section that had a multitude of examination rooms. "Patients" were brought here for testing as well as, well examination...

Even though they called them patients, everyone knew what they really were: Prisoners. Once a person volunteered to be here, there _was _no escape. No one knew the location of this place, except for people who _needed_ to know. For example, people in high ranking positions at F.L.A.R.E. Headquarters.

Xu trailed behind her as usual, along with six other escort guards. Upon their arrival at one of the doors leading to Examination Room B, she took her key card out from between her boobies and she pressed it against the sensor. The door clicked and swung open. Two guards entered the room with her and four remained outside guarding the hall.

In the room sat a mocha colored girl in nothing but a two-piece examination gown. She stared at the two women and two guards who had just entered the room waiting for them to say something. Before the blond woman sat down across from her, she pressed a few buttons in her wrist gadget and said, "Commencing interrogation, Subject: Comfort Fedoke, Friday October 21."

**Comfort**

She absolutely hated these visits from this woman. They were nightmarish. She saw the reactions she gave the other soldiers too. One minute they're tough as nails, and the next they were pissing in their uniforms. Comfort had to admit that she _was _scary, but she didn't _scare_ Comfort...

There's a difference, because Comfort could recognize another tough girl when she saw one. She was definitely tough, but Comfort was tough too.

It had been this _woman_ who ordered Comfort and Nuke (and probably Zell) to get sterilized with hot (almost scalding) water. Soldiers in bio hazard suits had pushed her and Nuke against the wall and blasted them with a high pressure water pump that created nothing but steam and screams everywhere when they first got here.

Comfort had pressed her naked body against Nuke's and tried her best to protect him from the cruelty. He had cried and she almost did as well. They had taken just about every measure to make sure that they weren't infected. Yes, this corporation is thorough but they were also practically inhumane.

Comfort had even been forced to take a pregnancy test _and _go through an ultrasound machine. Not to her surprise, she tested negative for pregnancy, but the point was that all of this seemed over-dramatic and unnecessary. How long were they going to test on Zell before they let all of them free? That's what the white lady had promised: that once they were finished with Zell they could ALL go.

This particular visit was different from the previous, she noticed. She had brought another person with her instead of visiting alone. A young looking girl, Asian with skinny legs and a short pony-tail. She looked like a school-girl from a Japanese porno. Comfort had eyed her from time to time as she stood in the corner expressionless.

Before the lady sat down across from her, she pressed a few buttons in her wrist gadget and said, "Commencing interrogation, Subject: Comfort Fedoke, Friday October 21."

"Ya know, it's amazin' how much ya talk to that thing," Comfort pointed out. "I wonder if it eva gets sick of being attached to ya."

The woman chuckled and smiled at her prisoner. "And how are you feeling today, Miss Comfort?"

"I'd be a lot betta if I cud go home-Where's Nuke?" she demanded.

"Oh don't worry, he is perfectly fine where he is and under complete appropriate adult supervision."

"And Zell?" she asked. "Are you guys done experimenting on ma friend?"

The white woman giggled. Comfort winced at the woman's practically never-fading cheery personality. "He is currently undergoing testing-in the meantime, I'd like to ask you a few questions. First I'll start off with: how do you know Zell Dincht?"

"We bin friends since we met at Loire Kingdom."

"When he became a prince?"

"A lil befo dat..."

"How did you end up working at that castle?"

"Well ya see I come from the Fedoke Kingdom in da North."

"Trabian?"

"Yes, and my family owed the vampires so they sent me to work off the debt. And the vampires knew they were forbidden ta harm me."

"Describe you and Zell's duties as a human workers at Loire Castle."

"Well, ya see I worked in entertainment. I danced and served drinks and such." The blond woman nodded awaiting the second part of the answer. "And Zell's job was," Comfort felt uncomfortable saying that he was Squall's nightly booty call, so she just said, "He worked in entertainment as well."

"You mean he was the Prince's booty call?"

Comfort's mouth almost dropped. She chuckled nervously and nodded.

"Understandable, these situations tend to get out of control sometimes," she reasoned.

Comfort nodded in agreement. "Well, unfortunately I have some good news and bad news."

Comfort cleared her throat in anticipation. "The good news is that we will be releasing you and Nuke very soon today!" the woman beamed at Comfort, lying right to the girl's face.

Comfort smiled a big toothy smile showing off her baby-like white teeth. Now what was the bad news? Nothing could be _that_ bad if they were getting their freedom.

"The bad news is that, unfortunately your friend Zell has proved to be not only a high risk for contamination in the outside world, but he has also become a threat to human safety. He will have to undergo Abortion and Termination."

She waited for the girl to soak all of this in. "What?" Her smile vanished and her eyes dimmed but still focused on the woman demanding an answer. "What do you mean termination?"

"It's a very simple process. We do standard lethal injections here. We will hook him up to a machine and allow the juices to flow. He will be Euthanized and won't feel a thing."

Comfort stood up knocking her chair over on the cold hard floor. Her heart began to race with panic. "You'll never get away with this!" How dare this with sit there and explain killing Zell as though it were basic math homework.

Xu cocked her gun to remind Comfort who held the authority around here. The dark skinned dancer disregarded the sound and continued to stab her hateful gaze into the big breasted woman.

"Save the dramatics," she said rising from her seat and pushing her chair in calmly, she leaned over the table, having no effects of intimidation whatsoever on Comfort, and continued. "No one will ever believe you. We have the government in our back pocket." _And you won't be making it out alive either_, she thought smugly.

She walked to the door, which Xu had opened for her and before she stepped out into the hallway she stated, "After we operate on him, your cell will be opened and you will be escorted out. Did you have any other questions you wished to ask me?"

"Ya. As a matter o fact I do." Before she was set free, Comfort was going to learn more about this woman.

**Zell**

He could feel his eyes _trying _to open. Emphasis on the word _trying_. His eyelids felt heavier than normal and he already knew why. It took zero effort for him to remember what had happened. He had retaliated and got "out of hand" so they subdued him. Of course...

When he finally _did_ manage to open his eyes, he immediately shut them again. He had to wince at the bright lights directly above him. Several high watt light bulbs burned brightly down on him from some sort of crane. He groggily tried to move, but he could tell that not only his wrists but his ankles were being restrained. It was those same purple glowing restraints that held his powers back. He knew from this position that he was laying flat on his back, but he heard something click and it felt like he was being rotated forward.

He could feel his position on the cold brittle surface being changed so he was standing erect (like Jesus on the cross). "Just kill me and get it over with," he said through clenched teeth.

"Ah, you are _much _too precious to just throw away." That voice. It was the small man with the accent. Dr. Odine.

Zell finally opened his eyes this time and his pupils were relieved when he realized that from this angle the lights weren't so intense. However upon what he saw when he opened his eyes, he wished that he had just kept them closed. It was obvious that Zell stifled his laugh when he saw the man again. He couldn't hold himself laughing at his short ass.

"Is something funny?"

"No! Not at all. Let me down from here."

"Hold your horses. We have more testing to get done." Zell groaned in agonizing annoyance. Dr. Odine continued, "Since we cannot trust your unpredictable behavior, I had no choice but to restrain you like this while we complete the examination.

"Well next time you might want to tell you staff to not be so disrespectful. I never did anything to them!"

"Ah, I do apologize for that. I think you made an example of Sargent Biggs and Lieutenant Wedge."

Zell rolled his eyes. "Made an example-my ass," Zell replied. "Let's just get this over with."

"Fine as you wish. First off I have great news. Congratulations! You are _indeed _one hundred percent pregnant!" The small man put his tiny hands together and clapped enthusiastically. Zell stared at him as though he were just some dumb fuck and _not _a highly acclaimed doctor.

"Um...I knew that already. I even know the gender: a girl."

Doctor Odine didn't show that he was shocked to know that the boy already knew the baby's gender. He wondered how he knew."Yes, but now it is official!" Zell just continued to stare blankly at the man. "Moreover, I have more news. We can terminate the pregnancy right here in this facility. I have you scheduled for abortion later this afternoon." The man smiled so big this time that Zell could almost see his teeth underneath his oversized mustache.

"What?" Zell said almost above a whisper. "Did you just say..." however, he finished the rest of the statement at normal tones. "_Abortion?_"

The small man nodded with too much vigor. He was practically beaming. But on the inside he hurt for the teen.

"I never agreed to that!" Zell could feel his voice getting louder.

"But you agreed to cooperate," No! Where had _she_ come from. That woman stepped from out of nowhere cutting the doctor off. She looked up at the captive like he were a lab specimen. "Didn't you, Zell?"

"I never agreed to an abortion!" he repeated with more force than the last time. He could feel himself struggling instinctively against his restraints and he was getting more and more stressed and scared by the second.

"Unfortunately you and your associates cannot leave unless you are free of all infection. Once we've taken care of your condition you are free to go. I've spoken with them already, they're just waiting on you."

"This isn't even legal!" Zell cried.

"Then I guess it's a good thing we own a share of the government. Here at S.E.E.D. we make our own rules and the world is a better place without people like you," she explained coldly.

"Rahaahh!" Zell screamed loudly and squirmed against the wall. "Let me go!"

"Christ! Why are you fighting so hard to protect that monster inside of you!?" she demanded. "Let's say you did give birth to this child, it will kill you for sure. Your weak little human body will never be able to handle something like that." She broke off as she looked at the boy hanging on the wall. "And besides. You're much too young to be having children. You could never understand how to raise another human being let alone a _vampire_."

"That's not your decision to make!" Zell hissed through clenched teeth. "This is my child! I'm its father!" He was close to tears now. They were really serious-they were really going to take his child away from him.

"Don't you want to go back to being a _normal _human again? Don't you miss your home back in Balamb? Your friends?" her face became extremely evil just then. "Don't you miss your _mother_?" she asked darkly.

Zell lifted his head, his eyes wide with shock.

"Because she misses _you_."

"If you go anywhere near her I'll rip your fake ass tits off, you bitch!"

"Yes! That's it! Become emotional! Show me the _real_ you. Threaten me. Give us a real reason to terminate you and while we're at it we can just get rid of your little friends too! Why risk infection?"

This was absolutely hopeless. If he lost his baby, he and his friends could leave, but if he fought back, him and his friends would be killed. He hung against the wall with his head low like a lifeless puppet. How symbolic. Ever since he ran away from home he had been nothing _but_ a puppet, being pulled and dragged by the will of others.

Now here he was dangling from the wall awaiting his master's next move. The woman smirked in triumph and keyed in new updates into her arm. "I'll take your silence as defeat," she boasted. "Take him to his chambers," then she turned to the doctor. "Prepare one of the examination rooms for the operation." Then finally she turned back to Zell. She looked him in the eye without any hint of sympathy or compassion. "And by the way, Comfort says," she paused while she waited for him to lift his head back up. Her face darkened again, "Oh...it's not that important."

And just like that she waltzed out of the laboratory. It took everything for Zell's trembling body to hold his tears in.

**Selphie and Fujin**

"Okay what do you think of this one?" Selphie asked as she held up a royal blue colored dress that was extremely high on the hips and had a slash going through the midsection. Fujin frowned at it. "Um is there anything else?"

Selphie glanced to the side trying to hide her frustration. They had already been through like five different outfits.

"How bout this one?" she asked holding up a cheetah print dress. It only earned another frown.

"This?"

"TOO SPARKLY."

"This?"

"TOO SLUTTY."

"This?"

"Selphie that's a Big Bird costume."

"Yeah well at this rate you're gonna be going out dressed as Big Bird if you don't start becoming easier to work with here soon..." The brunette tapped her foot. "And stop talking in that creepy robot voice!"

Fujin, while trying to imagine herself dressed as a character from Sesame Street, saw she was getting on the poor girl's nerves. "Okay you know what? Let's get our hair and nails done first so I can have time to think about what I want to wear tonight. And maybe if I see something while we're out I'll just grab it," Fujin fake-reasoned with Selphie. Fake-reasoned, because she would do everything she said she was going to do, but she just wasn't going to be as excited about it as she made herself sound.

Selphie must have known this because she eyed her silver haired companion suspiciously. "Hmmm fine. I'll go get dressed."

Phew, Fujin sighed. Crisis avoided for now. If she had said "no" one more time, Selphie probably would have pushed the poor girl out of the window.

They had left the dorm and rode into town in Selphie's blue beetle(1). The car ride became awkward when Selphie began asking too many questions.

"So is this going to be your first time out?" she asked innocently.

"Yeah."

"You never went out and had fun where you used to live? Like with friends, classmates...boyfriends?"

"No..." Fujin had always been a lonely girl...

"Where did you live before you came here anyway?"

"Umm...I'm originally from a small town. You've probably never heard of it."

"Family?"

"No, they were never around much. I had to teach myself how to make friends. I know I'm not very fun to be around."

Selphie took her eyes off of the road briefly and looked to the side at her friend in the passenger's seat. "I think you pretty fucking hilarious." Fujin raised a silver brow. "Well I don't think it's funny that your family was absent and that it's hard for you to make friends, but ya know you say some really interesting things sometimes."

Fujin sort of smiled. "Thanks."

"By the way whatever happened to your friend Seifer?"

Fujin was silent for a while before answering. "I'm not sure where he is," she answered sadly.

Selphie thought in silence as she drove. Irvine, Zell and Seifer. It was like they had all just disappeared.

**Zell**

Later after he was let down from that wall, surprise surprise, he was being transported back to his room by the same six guards. He had been slapped across the face countless times by the two guards he had beat up earlier on the way back to his cell.

One of them had a missing tooth. He had punched Zell in his arm, roughly bruising it. Zell winced in pain and tried to stifle his screams. "That's for the bonus you cost me this month you little freak," he snapped at him.

"This one is for my nuts you little faggot," the other kicked him square in his back causing him to to fall on the ground. He couldn't break his fall because of the glowing purple handcuffs, so he caught himself with his face roughly.

**!OOMF!**

"Okay that's enough," one of the other soldiers intervened. "We don't want to him to get caught with missing teeth. You-know-who will have a bitch fit." Why did his voice sound so familiar? Zell wondered.

The pair of disgruntled employees eyed the soldier who had just interfered with their bullying. "Yeah you're probably right," one of them said. "Wedge help me help him up, will ya?"

"Sure thing." Zell wanted to rub his throbbing arm. It was beginning to swell. He could feel himself being grabbed and picked up off the floor, then all of a sudden his legs were kicked from underneath him and he was slammed back on the ground.

"Whoopsy daisy! Butter-fingers I 'spose..."

Zell broke out in sobs this time. He couldn't help it, all of the stress and trauma and physical pain rushed him all at once. He saw the guard who stood up for him come to his aid. He lifted the blond off of the ground and firmly guided him the rest of the way towards their destination. Biggs and Wedge chuckled amongst themselves at the expense of Zell's tears. The other soldiers laughed as well.

He was thankful for the _good _soldier who protected him from the others. If he hadn't intervened they probably would have gone as far as beating him to death in the hallway. He didn't like bullies...

Back in his room when he was alone, he slumped against a wall and began sobbing. All that work just to find himself here. Once they took his baby from him, a part of him would surely die.

He found himself standing in front of his mirror. It wasn't a coincidence, Zell needed help and there was only one person who had the answer. He was about to have a nice little chat with "Mell". He was desperate.

"Wow. This is the first time you've ever called me without me having to call you first," Mell remarked as his bloody image came into view. He giggled and played with a bloody strand of hair from where he was standing behind the glass mirror.

Zell narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why are you always so bloody and nasty?"

"Well, it's a long story. It's symbolic for all the lives I've taken over the years I could never seem to wash it off so the look just sort of stuck. I kinda like it-but you didn't summon me to ask me for fashion advice, did you, Zell?"

"Look I need your help. They're saying they're going to take away my baby!"

Mell gasped and pretended to look hurt and scared. "Dear lord! Not the babeh!" he mimicked. "I warned you this would happen. Thankfully for you, you and I are forgiving people. Unfortunately for _them_, _I _have no mercy."

Zell sighed. "Whatever. Just get me out of here like you said you would."

"Patience, little mama. We mustn't act right now, it will blow our cover and besides, I heard them talking while you were asleep. They want to do just more than abort your baby, Zell."

"What do you mean?"

"That woman, the one with the huge fake tits, she was saying we all have to get terminated. Terminated as in-" Mell took his index finger and ghosted it over his throat. He even added a gargling sound effect for dramatics.

Zell's eyes grew wide. Comfort! Nuke! Russel! "No!"

"Don't worry, I'll help you save your little demon spawn and get you out in once peace, but under ONE condition."

Mellenia wanted something in return. Zell's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What do you want?"

"Come closer. Put your ear against the mirror. It's a HUGE secret. I'd be so embarrassed if anyone ever knew."

Even though Mell was a dramatic acting person, he looked somewhat serious right now-while still being overly dramatic. "Fine," Zell rolled his eyes and pressed his ear against the glass.

Mell put his lips near where Zell's ear was against the glass on _his _side. He began whispering in his ear. Zell listened for a moment and practically pissed himself when he heard what his dark counterpart wanted in return. "What? NO! I'll never do that!"

"Shhhh! I told you I was shy about it," Mell half giggled.

"That's sick! There has to be something else we can agree upon."

"Fine," Mell shrugged his shoulders and turned around. "I'm gonna go back to finishing my nap. Wake me when you decide you want to keep your baby!"

Zell could feel his stomach turn. "Fine!" he called. "I'll do it," he said in defeat.

"Glad to see you cooperating. Now here's the plan-"

**Seifer**

It's funny how the universe worked. One minute you're human, then the next you get attacked by some psycho on the street and you become a blood hungry beast. Now you're a vampire.

That was just a small trickle of the now scarred man's past, and over the years he learned at least one important thing: Just because you look, act, and occasionally think like a human; doesn't mean you _are_ one.

The blond vampire had a lot of time to reflect on recent events while he was on the run from F.L.A.R.E, the human army, and the vampires of Loire kingdom. Everyone wanted a piece of him (as usual). Except for one person of course...Chicken-The Fucking Cock Tease.

Everyone was hunting Seifer now like everyone had been hunting Zell. They just had _so _much in common now! No? Not really. ..

But if you want a more accurate example of how life works, try this one: One minute you're riding your newly broken "noble steed" and the next your about to get caught by an entire army of air-capable vampires.

Seifer Almasy was headed in the direction of Galbadia. More specifically: Deiling City's direction. Apparently he just couldn't stay away. There were many things calling him back to that city regardless of the price he would have to pay. Even if it meant his life. (Seifer wouldn't bother hunting if there were no risk of safety.)

One reason why he even bothered saving up his sperm and flying back to Deiling was Chickie, A.K.A. Zell Dincht.

The other was Fujin. He hadn't forgotten about her, not by a long-shot. He needed to get back to her and let her know what was going on, she must be worried sick.

He remembered how mad she was when he had left without her. He would fill her in on what's been going on lately. The least he could do is give her a chance to decide whether she wanted to continue traveling with him or not. If she wanted nothing to do with him after this, he would understand completely. Everyone abandoned him eventually anyway, and he would hate for her to feel like he had abandoned _her_. He wasn't thinking like a human! He just wanted her to know that he had not deserted her. Not by a long shot.

Seifer had to keep taking breaks to feed his vampire. The winged creature flew decently long distances, but it needed blood very often. He would drop down to ground level occasionally to let it feed on a nearby farm animal, and occasionally Seifer would feed on a nearby farmer just to keep himself energized as well.

Traveling by air was a lot of harder than the usual hopping from motel to motel on land and even though Seifer was elevated and flying just underneath the clouds, it was still pretty cold up here (More than the usual October chill). Which is why when the air suddenly grew hot, Seifer's blood ran even colder and his predatory senses told him to hide.

He had felt the heat coming from those machines from miles away and without looking behind himself, he told his horse-like vampire to swoop down at alarming speed and the two of them hid in a nearby forest.

He moved his beast out of sight, telling it to calm down. The winged horse-like bloodsucker had become alarmed at the sudden changes. They stayed in the shadows of the trees. His senses never lied to him, something had been in the air with them.

On cue, out of the clouds emerged countless steel objects. They flew above him across the sky at an alarming speed, and if the fugitive vampire hadn't hid down here, he would have been dead within seconds. Without a doubt, those were vampire airships form Esthar.

Well, damn. Looks like Loire Kingdom was finally about to launch its assault on F.L.A.R.E. Seifer smirked in joy, but his happiness was soon cut short. No!

Chicken!

Fujin!

They were both in danger!

F.L.A.R.E. was located in Deiling! He had to get to Deiling before the Kingdom did. Knowing them, they would take that entire city full of humans just to get to Chicken-Wuss _and _F.L.A.R.E.

Fuck! FUJIN was human!

He hopped back on his winged zebra-like vampire and flew out of the forest like a bat out of hell, only he didn't fly so high this time...

**F.L.A.R.E. Headquarters**

"Sir, we've just received an air alert. Unidentified aircraft has just breached Galbadian territory."

Commander Martine looked up from his paperwork and beckoned the F.L.A.R.E. agent over to him. If it was just another large bird that tripped the air sensors again he was going to be pissed.

He had been right in the middle of looking over an important document and was just about to close the deal. Martine snatched the papers out of the young soldier's hand and examined the statistics, and then the images.

The statistics didn't lie-and neither did the images, but Martine examined them closer still wanting to be one hundred (and ten) percent sure that these descriptions were accurate. The messenger observed his commander silently, awaiting confirmation.

"Alert the front line," Martine finally stated. "Raise the anti-targets and tell all patrol units to blockade the entry zones."

"Right away, sir." Things were about to get ugly. The vampires had finally come for their prince.

He had been prepared for this. Martine reached for the phone. He had to alert the Galbadian Missile Base.

**Selphie and Fujin**

As Friday wore on, the weather became colder, and the sun began vanishing at a close 5:30 pm. Give or take about 30 more minutes and it would go down completely soon, giving Deiling city the darkness that it would need for the upcoming nighttime-club life. Selphie and Fujin walked down the chilly streets avoiding knocking into people who were also currently running around trying to get shopping of their own done.

After leaving the salon, they had finally made their way towards the restaurant district. Fujin was in a genuine state of happiness after getting her hair and nails done. It felt really good and she realized now why it was so important for girls to do that type of thing all the time.

She had even enjoyed picking out her own dress when they had gone shopping for something to wear tonight and couldn't wait to wear it too. The bad thing was she was a bout to be broke. She needed to look for a job and a place to stay pretty soon.

"Gulladog?" Selphie suggested as they walked.

"Hn." Fujin didn't really care but she had to ask, "Gulladog for breakfast-Gulladog for dinner? PATTERN?"

"Well," Selphie stammered uncomfortably. "It's cheap and not too unhealthy. I don't really get tired of it. It's okay right?"

"Yeah sure," Fujin agreed casually.

The real reason was that Selphie wanted to see if maybe Irvine were here. If he hadn't worked a morning shift then it was more probable that he'd be working Friday night dinner. Because Friday nights were super busy in ANY of the Deiling City Districts.

When they entered the restaurant however, the cowboy was no where to be found. He wasn't behind the counter and even when Selphie craned her neck to peak behind in the kitchen, he wasn't back there either. She was slightly disappointed, but brushed it off as she sat and ate her potato chips. Where the hell could he be?

"You excited for tonight?" Selphie asked cheerily after taking a bite of her Colombian hot dog (2).

Fujin fake-smiled and nodded. She really wasn't excited, but she would pretend that she was if it meant Selphie would have a good time. That girl she met a month ago was slowly but surely coming back to the surface. She just needed time. Time heals all wounds...or so they say.

"Man, I am gonna dance my ass off. Maybe even get wasted," she added.

Fujin's eyes grew wide and she stared at her guacamole dog (2).

"What?" she asked. "I can drink if I want, you didn't actually think I planned on keeping this beast did you?" Fujin remained quiet, but sipped her soda through her straw. "As a matter of fact I think I should be able to get rid of it if I drown it in alcohol. It will save me a trip to the clinic." Fujin eyed Selphie as she watched thoughts moving across her face.

"Oh my God! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Going out tonight is going to be amazing!"

When Selphie had finished talking and began reveling in what appeared to be her own awesomeness, Fujin got a funny feeling in her stomach. Something about that didn't seem right or safe.

"I just can't wait to drink now!" Selphie repeated. "You're drinking with me right? We have to celebrate!"

"Um yeah sure." Fujin had A LOT to say, but just didn't know how to say it.

They had finished eating their hotdogs and they began picking up their purses and heading out of the warm restaurant and into the chilly October windy streets. Fujin walked next to Selphie, but slightly behind her.

What the brunette had said back at Gulladog really bothered her. Okay Selphie had been raped, we get that, and she had tested positive for pregnancy but refused to go to a doctor. So she was taking this into her own hands and deciding to end the life of her fetus by overdosing on alcohol!? Fujin understood abortion, but this was something else...

"It's too early to head to the club now," Selphie slightly yelled over traffic as they crossed the street. It had become completely dark now and the streetlights were on. Their heels clicked against the pavement as they hustled to get out of the cold.

"We could hang out at the bookstore until it opens?" Fujin suggested.

"Okay that's cool," Selphie agreed. They rounded a corner, but something caught Fujin's attention out of the corner of her eye, causing her to walk slower."

Selphie had gone ahead about 15 feet before she realized she was practically walking alone. "Hey," she called to the silver haired girl staring up at the sky in the middle of the sidewalk. People walked around Fujin and gave her dirty looks for standing in the middle of the wide sidewalk and in everyone's way. Selphie jogged over to Fujin in her brown knee length heeled suede boots. She grabbed her friend's skinny shoulders and moved her to the side underneath the awning of a Chinese restaurant.

"Hey! Hello? Earth to Fu."

Fujin broke her gaze from the practically night sky and looked at Selphie. "Did you see that?" she asked with her eyes really big.

"See what?" Selphie followed the path of Fujin's eye up at the sky. "Fujin, there's nothing there," she said after a moment of staring at stars and the almost fully erect full moon.

"All of those shooting stars," Fujin explained. "I saw them. They were red...and they shot across the sky so quickly." Fujin knew she had seen shooting stars fly across the night sky. They had went over toward the direction of Galbadia University. She wondered if anyone else had seen them. They weren't like any ordinary shooting stars. They were like red lasers that faded very quickly.

"Fujin, just make a wish and let's get to the shopping district, I'm freezing my ass off!" Selphie whined at Fujin.

"Okay fine!" Fujin closed her eyes and made a wish. She wished that she could see Seifer one more time and that Selphie would stay friends with her.

"Let's go!" Selphie latched to Fujin's arm as they ran down the street and the two girls giggled and chattered (Selphie doing most of the chattering) the whole way towards the book store.

**Laharl **

Just a few more hundred miles and they would be there. This fleet had left before the sun came up early this morning from Esthar and they finally made it twelve hours later as the sun was going back down. They had sang songs and cheered the whole way, so a twelve hour journey wasn't bad if you just kept the spirits up.

It would have taken most airships a lot longer to journey, but not Estharian airships.

Once Laharl had been informed by the pilot he stood up and grabbed the microphone of the aircraft.

"This is the head ship: Blood-Streak contacting all units. We make contact in 100 miles. T-minus twenty five minutes before contact. Make your final preparations and prepare all cannons. Turret operators report to all stations, units one through 12 fall back and await orders. Thirteen through 25, move up."

"You're telling half of the fleet to fall back?" Nida asked getting up from his seat.

Laharl placed his microphone back in its holder on the control panel of the dashboard. "I'm not wasting my entire fleet on F.L.A.R.E. I will hit them with everything we've got, but I need to make sure we're still being resourceful...just in case..."

Nida was impressed. "Smart thinking."

"Common sense actually." Laharl wanted to know why Nida was out of his seat, and why the Asian boy was staring at him like that.

The fleet didn't break formation until about 2 minutes later. Nida looked out of the windows and watched twelve ships fall behind and let their ships hover stealthy amidst the protection of the dark sky and the foggy clouds. They were concealed.

The other half proceeded swiftly, Nida saw the flashing red lights outside of all of the ships through the windows and front window. He turned to Laharl and asked, "If we survive this, I wanna take you somewhere and spend time with you."

A mechanical sound could be heard coming from outside of the ship. Then there was that smell again. Blood. So much of it. The sounds were the guns of the air-craft being adjusted into position on the sides.

The slim vampire looked at Nida a bit nervously. He didn't have time for distractions no matter how nice they sounded or how cute Nida was. Laharl swallowed the lump in his throat and turned back to the microphone.

Nida heard Laharl's voice shout through the microphone, "Fire!"

A torrent of bullets reigned over F.L.A.R.E.'s main headquarters: Galbadia University.

**TBC**

**If Selphie drove a car you know it would be a cute blue buggy! XP**

**A Colombian hot dog is a hot straight out of Colombia (Duh). It has potato chips, onion, red sauce and pineapple sauce and it makes you so full it just puts you to sleep. Where as a Guacamole dog has guacamole, onion, relish and is sooo delicious! They used to sell those at Sonics. Yes that's right I did my research on hot dogs just for this story heh heh...(I have no life)**

**I'm so happy that Obama is President! W00T!**

**Phew I don't know about you guys, but Laharl is giving me GOOSEBUMPS!**

**Leave me reviews loves!**


	25. Friday Night Lights pt 2

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, **

**A/N: So glad to finally update! I've been busy with work and trying to catch up on sleep, and practicing my routine for a cosplay event. I've missed you all and couldn't wait for you to see what Zell and co were up to. Man a lot of work sure went into this one. I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving, those of you who do celebrate that is. Now sit back and enjoy the awesomeness that is this story! There is a lot of violence in this chapter. Don't say I didn't warn you X-X**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing under Final Fantasy VIII or anything that belongs to Square -Enix**

**Chapter 25: Friday Night Skies Pt 2**

The cool October chill breezed through the air of Galbadia University's freshly cut green campus. Even in this chilly weather with leaves shedding from it, somehow the grass had held onto its natural richness.

Campus was somewhat deserted at the moment. Students were either inside their warm dormitories studying for midterms before they went on fall break, away at costume parties, or out in Deiling getting drunk in The Club District.

Then there were the unfortunate students; the few who walked freely towards the University, unsuspecting of what was about to happen. It didn't matter where they were coming from-only where they were going.

A group of four students walked up the path towards the side entrance, opposite of the playground with the ever-classic swing set.

The group consisted of 2 girls and 2 boys. One for either side. They walked in pairs chattering rapidly about nothing in particular.

"Guys, come on stop dicking around. We're going to miss all the good music and drink specials!" One girl complained.

"I want everyone to see my costume," her female friend said.

A boy put his arm around her shoulder and said to the other girl, "The good music won't hit until practically midnight, and we're drinking at Ryan's tonight before we head out to Deiling."

"Incubus!" the two girls cheered and did a little dance jiggle-they were WHOO-girls (a WHOO-girl is a female who says "WHOOO!" for everything she does... -_- )

The guys hi-fived each other behind the girls (they were college dudes).

"Yes! That place is always hype!"

"What are we wearing tonight?"

"I'm going to go dressed as a Moogle."

"I'm going as Michael Jackson!"

"Pirate over here. Whoo-whoo!"

"I'm gonna be a vampire!" One guy said.

Everyone looked at the boy and laughed. "That's so typical and original of you," they teased.

"Screw you guys. You haven't even seen it yet!"

The group continued their senseless young care-free laughter, excited about getting their booze-on and finishing their cheap Halloween costumes. Their laughter had been cut short by the strange ominous red light that emitted from directly above them.

The teenagers saw the lights, before they heard what was producing them. It flashed all around them, leaving them no other choice but to look up. About a dozen airships hovered in front of the University. The large heaps of metal blocked out the light from the stars and the moon. The only color they could see was red and it made them feel a sense of aggression and hostility.

"Aliens!" one of the boys pointed, horrified at what he was seeing.

"Not aliens-it's Esthar...what are they doing _here, _though?"

The group of teens watched in horror as a big gun flipped on the side of the ship and began rotating as if it were preparing to fire.

"RUN!" One of the giuys shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice was drowned out by the sound of speeding hot bullets blasting from the guns of the airships. They tore through trees and the ground and electric poles were destroyed. Galbadia University was under attack!

"No! The school!" one girl had cried as she looked back and watched the ships fire at the building as she ran. Her tears trailed in the wind as she feared for her friends' safety.

"Just keep running!" her friend had told her, before a torrent of bullets ripped through her backside tearing her up and down her middle.

"NOO!" One of the boys screamed as he watched clouds of blood shoot from her front. He ran back for her shot up body that lay on the ground, but the last girl remaining and the other boy grabbed him and they dragged him away from the destruction.

"She's gone, man," his friend explained as they continued to run. "Quick, get inside the Veterinary Building. I think it's still unlocked. We can hide there," he added as the sound of a bomb going off loudly could be heard behind them

The smell of gasoline began to fill the air.

"No! We have to get to Deil-"

**!KABOOM! **

She never finished her sentence. All three of them were blown to smithereens along with the Veterinary Building. Trying to take cover here had been a bad idea. That was the end of the four innocent humans who had been caught in the beginning stages of an all out war.

**Seifer **(_Pursue)_

It was like the wind was carrying him to Chicken-Wuss and Fu. It felt right, he thought.

Seifer Almasy headed towards the big and brightly lit city with only two things on his mind: Fujin and Zell. He would reach the university first from the direction he was flying so checking there first would make things easier.

The lights from flashy Deiling became brighter and closer as Seifer descended within the dark shadowy confines of the Campus Woods. He landed his flying blood sucker as gently as he could, while still moving with a sense of urgency. The scarred man had quickly become accustomed to flying it and feeding it regularly. He had no other choice if he wanted to survive. No one would miss those farm boys anyway...

After Seifer dismounted his winged beast, he sped further out of the clutches of the forest that divided Galbadia University from the werewolf territory. He couldn't land too close to the campus grounds-he had to be cautious that humans (students) didn't see his unusual looking beast as well as himself, his dangerous image could cause alarm to people, besides, he didn't know how '_wanted' _he was here in Galbadia.

As he got closer to the bike trail ahead, he noticed that not only was the destroyed vehicle by the tree gone, but it was like the tree had been erased as well... He guessed that it had been reported and every scrap of metal was gone along with the tree. This, after all, was the same forest that Seifer and Fujin had crashed into, which in turn had ended up triggering her full-speech pattern.

The disposal of his car had only one solution: F.L.A.R.E. They were some thorough mother fuckers. They'd do anything to cover up supernatural incidents.

The memory of protecting her from werwolves in this forest played across his mind like a short film. He had ripped them apart that night, to protect her. He could _still_ protect her if given the chance. He just hoped she was okay, and that he wasn't too late.

Seifer also hoped that his zebra-like companion would stay put like he told it to. It was a vampire after all and if it wanted freedom, now would be the best time to take it (he slapped himself for not tying it up). He would need it for his escape plan.

Seifer ran through the forest, knocking twigs and branches out of his face in frustration, luckily nothing snagged onto the tail of his white trench coat.

When he reached the road it was clear-there seemed to be not a car in sight, and he instantly felt less claustrophobic. Since he landed so close to F.L.A.R.E. he could see the campus clearly. The playground where that human girl had been killed was deserted. Seeing some one slaughtered by a werewolf was intense even for him (vampires were generally more cleaner than those beasts). Seifer shivered at the memory only slightly-again all evidence that someone had even been killed over there had been wiped clean. It appears as though F.L.A.R.E. was good at covering their tracks. Sneaky fucks.

He broke out into a sprint towards the building-the chilled October air not bothering him one bit. Seifer craned his neck up at the sky slightly while he ran. It was clear except for a few stars and an incomplete moon. He had made it on time, but he had to act fast! He would just kill anyone who got in the way, rescue Zell, and then run to find Fujin. Sniffing the air didn't help much, there was no scent of Lilacs _anywhere_ dammit this would be harder than he thought.

There were only two possibilities as to why he couldn't track him. Either he (Zell) was nowhere near here, or F.L.A.R.E. was hiding his scent. Fuck! He couldn't smell Fujin either...Fuck Fuck!

Now halfway from the building, he noticed a group of kids walking towards their residences across the green field from him. He couldn't make out what they were saying from here, but they were chattering about something excitedly, Seifer ignored them but kept sprinting towards the main office.

Suddenly, everything became darker and the sky had been filled with noises. Heavy machinery soared through the air and halted in front of the tall University. If Seifer's heart could beat, it would be thumping madly with panic right now.

SHIT! Estharian vampires. Seifer was too late...

He had to run before he was seen here or else they would kill him. Quickly, he hid in the shadows of a smaller building a decent distance away from the University. He would stay here until there was an opportunity to get away and if he had to fight his way through (he gripped the handle of his Hyperion firmly) then so fuckin' be it. Seifer Almasy would always fight if he needed to.

The deafening sound of bullets being fired out of the large guns of those Estharian airships could be heard, and he could also hear them smashing into a surface that did not sound like the material of the building. Seifer chanced peeking around the corner and quickly found out why.

F.L.A.R.E. had put up a force-field to protect their fortress. The shells just bounced off of the invisible protective plate and littered beautiful golden flakes all over the green freshly kept grass of the campus.

Every time the shield was hit by one of the bullets, it lit up and flashed. This firing carried on for about 30 more seconds from all three ships, until they stopped and changed their formation.

What Seifer saw next almost made him vomit. One of those kids (a girl) had been hit with a small shower of bullets. Her blood splashed everywhere. Seifer watched fear take over her friends as they began running away. They were headed in Seifer's direction.

One of the guns changed its shape into a more barrel like pipe and it fired a bomb! Seifer watched as it exploded and leaked some sort of acid all over the shield, disintegrating the material and forming a large hole.

The next horrifying thing to watch was the backs of the airships opening up and dozens of vampires jumping out at least 3000 feet from the sky and landing on the ground. They ran without hesitation and climbed into the opening they created.

If Zell was in there, Seifer would miss his opportunity, he had to go in and find him before they did.

He could hear footsteps approaching. FUCK! He couldn't be discovered by any of the soldiers. Seifer ran around the other side of the building and tried to break into it by turning the knob of the door.

He flexed the muscles in his ankle and kicked the door off of its hinges when it didn't budge. Somehow the door still dangled weakly on one hinge. Seifer quickly shuffled inside without being seen and closed the door like it hadn't even been broken.

The building was dark inside, and Seifer only had the pungent smell to go off of. He used his eyes to see in the dark and he knew why it smelled so musky in here. There were cats, dogs and horses all in pens. Some of their ears had perked at the sight of his appearance, others (like dogs) were freaking out at the sound of the insane gunfire outside. This must be where they kept the animals for the Veterinary majors, he thought to himself.

Seifer ran to the end of the barn and peered out of a window on the other side. Just like he had suspected, all of those vampire soldiers were climbing into that hole they created.

Amidst the smell of animals, Seifer detected something else all of a sudden. It was a strong all too familiar vapor. GAS! It was followed by the heavy patter of what Seifer could only guess was rainfall.

Seifer cursed to himself and sped back to the door of the animal pen, but even his vampire speed wasn't enough to keep him from getting caught in the explosion. His body was thrown forward and he could feel the overwhelming flames singe his skin.

He closed his eyes as the smell of burning wood and singed animal cadaver overwhelmed him.

**Laharl and Nida **(_Assault)_

Upon arrival at Galbadia, the violet eyed Commander quickly assaulted the University a.k.a. F.L.A.R.E. headquarters. Destroy everything, he thought angrily. After giving the command to fire, he realized that the bullets coming from the airship were having zero effect on the "fortress".

"They've got some sort of force-field, Commander," the gun operator communicated to Laharl.

"They're trying to buy time," Nida deduced. "You can break that shield with acid!"

"Are you sure?" Laharl asked while looking at Nida. The boy looked sincere, with a hint of something else in his eyes.

"I'm positive."

Laharl smirked out of the corner of his mouth. He knew it wouldn't have been this easy. Something had triggered, signaling to F.L.A.R.E. that airships had invaded Galbadian territory. They were buying time just as Nida had said.

"All units in the _**front**_, DEFEND!" Laharl's harsh commander tone went through all of the airship radios. All of the ships at the head of the formation turned their shields on. Reinforced metal protected the hovering aircrafts-Just in time too.

From out of the ground automated turrets emerged from the grass and began firing at the ships. The ones in front with activated shields were barely taking any damage and protected the rest of the fleet. Every time a bullet hit one of their shields it created a small spark and didn't even dent the vampire's metal.

"This is your commander speaking," Laharl announced as he grabbed the microphone off of the control panel once more. "Units 5 and 6, launch your **lemon-bombs**. Once we burn through this force-field, I want soldiers from units 1-7 to infiltrate. Prepare to hit the deck!"

Nida looked at Laharl in confusion. "Lemon bombs?"

Laharl smiled darkly. "You'll see." he continued speaking into the microphone again. "In the mean time, I want the flank to destroy that building 20 meters East. Prevent any chance for a sneak attack."

Nida turned to see clear liquid being doused all over the building that Laharl was talking about. Of course it was gasoline. Nida could smell it from here.

Nida watched as a flame strong enough for 3 mid-sized cabins, was launched from the tail of the fleet. It hit the trail of gasoline and ignited the building. Nida recognized it-the Veterinary Building, it blew to smithereens quickly and the explosion took the lives of 3 students who were running for cover. Something inside him twisted uncomfortably when he watched this.

After the shock of the blast, a mild bang reverberated through the atmosphere making their ship shake a bit. Nida leaned on the wall for support. Laharl hadn't budged on his own two legs and stood like nothing happened. All the other vampire-soldiers stayed in their seats and prepared to drop.

When Nida looked out of the window again, he saw two glowing yellow balls flying through the air. They headed towards the shield that protected the F.L.A.R.E fortress. The two glowing balls latched on and created a thick layer of glowing yellow liquid that spread on the shield. It covered a nice radius from where it landed and as it spread it melted the material, causing it to become unstable and open up.

"We did it! Grab your weapons and drop immediately. We will breach the fortress from the Entry Point!" Laharl yelled excitedly into the microphone. Cheers came from probably every airship.

The backs of only six of the helicopters opened and the other half of this fleet spread out and blocked off the perimeter from every direction. No one would be interrupting Laharl anytime soon.

The doors of the airships opened and the vampires all filed out. They didn't even bother to use rope, Nida noticed. They were about three thousand feet in the sky and the soldiers all leaped out as though they were just diving into a swimming pool.

Nida and Laharl were the last to jump out of their ship. Nida watched the violet haired commander check his crossbow and made sure his hair was all the way pulled back before he readied himself to sprint out of the airship. He had began a steady focused sprint but Nida grabbed his arm and almost made him fall.

"What the hell, Nida?" he asked angrily.

"You never answered my question," the Asian shot at him, his dark eyes glowing dangerously.

He snatched his arm away. "Not now!" he growled showing his angry looking fangs. It was definitely one of his more scarier faces, which made Nida appreciate his usually naturally pretty demeanor a lot more. Though he had to admit, the fierce energy Laharl directed towards him sure was sexy.

Laharl's face softened like he wanted to apologize, but instead he ran towards the cold air and leaped from the ship. "Holy shit," the pilot heard Nida exclaim. Nida had to fix his crotch area so that it would be more comfortable before he jumped after the slender vampire.

Without another thought, he leaped after him into the cold night.

**Comfort** (_Breakaway) _

This situation was completely fucked up-and that was only putting it mildly. They were going to abort Zell, remove his child forcefully, and then kill him...

The woman in charge, the one keeping an eye on them, was pure evil. Comfort had known right away that she was lying when she said they would be released after they finished with Zell's "Operation".

Comfort had always been given the gift of knowing when someone lied. It was like she could see it in a person's eyes when they spoke.

Comfort had given the woman a bit of an interrogation of her own. She found out that they were in a place called S.E.E.D. and they were underground. It controlled F.L.A.R.E. and they might not ever get out. She tried to find out the woman's name, but she had been called off to attend to other matters before she could answer by that stupid ass wrist thingy.

Somehow she understood that woman. She had a job to do and she was doing it, Comfort respected that100 percent, but when it came down to Ethics and right vs. wrong, Comfort totally disagreed with her. It was for those reasons that Comfort decided "The bitch is crazy and needs to be stopped." And Comfort had to get out of this room!

There were only two options:  
Escape her  
-or-  
End her.

Escaping her sounded easiest of the two, but how could she do it? Comfort rubbed the dark skin on her wrist nervously. Her curly jet black hair fell carelessly on her slumped shoulders as she tapped the back of her head against the wall.

She didn't stand a chance against _anything _here.

Comfort was leaning against the wall and sitting on the ground of her white padded cell. After she had completed her testing they had given her actual pants and a shirt with white slippers. Thank God for not being in that paper thin hospital gown anymore...

That does it! Her metallic hued eyes shimmered with determination. She stood up from her spot against the wall and quickly tried to devise a plan.

She looked around her room. Table, chair, floor...nothing. Come on Comfort, think! Wall, floor, locked door..nothing. She stormed over the door and twisted and turned and pulled as hard as she could. It was no use. She sighed in defeat. She was sealed in here.

She looked at the ceiling expecting an answer from God. That was when she noticed the air vent...a mischievous smile tugged at her mouth as her eyes sparkled in comparison to her white straight teeth.

**Zell **_(Take Over Control)_

"It's that simple," Mell said as he finalized the plans of escape.

"That actually sounds kinda hard..." Zell replied in a defeated tone.

"That's cuz you're a pussy," Mell replied.

"Hey screw you, I'm sorry I don't kill people for a hobby."

"Your loss kid-anyway just do like I described, okay? We have to get this over with before they put those handcuffs on you, and your first time making the change voluntarily will be hardest."

Mell had explained the method of escape. It wouldn't be easy on either Zell or Mell's part. Mell had explained that Zell would have to let him use his body, which has yet to ever happen between the two. Sure Zell had borrowed powers from Mell before (even though he had thought that his power had come from his unborn child), but he had never actually let Mell 'take over' his physical form. Not only this, but they had to do it fast, before those S.E.E.D. Soldiers came back and either A. Saw him talking to himself, or B. put those handcuffs on him and then he would have no chance at all of channeling Mell, who was the source of his supernatural power.

That was all Mell had really explained that he needed to do. Everything else, he said to just leave up to him. This, like he had stated before, would be hard-not to mention just weird.

"What will happen to me?" Zell asked.

"Think if it as sitting in the passenger's seat. I'll take the wheel and do all the hard parts-you just navigate. It will feel like your sleeping, only you'll still be there with me...I'm sorry I wish I could explain better, but if this is going to work, Zell you _have _to trust me. I'm your last hope-I'm _our _last hope."

"Okay," Zell said as he nodded his head with new-found courage and determination.

"I'll help you as best as I can. I'll try to pull you over to me, you at pull me too and we'll trade places," Mell said in so far the most comforting tone Zell had ever heard the bloody vampire say.

Zell closed his eyes and inhaled, then exhaled slowly. He opened his eyes and told Mell, "I'm ready."

"Good, now listen I'm pure evil-I'm a _true _vampire. So you have to channel the darkness within yourself to get me over to your side. It helps if you see your reflection like this because that's when the connection between the demon world and the human world is strongest, when we're face to face."

Zell tried (as quickly as he could because he heard footsteps coming down the hall) to channel his darkness like he had been doing all along, but it wasn't working!

"Pure hatred!" Mellenia screamed at him from the other side of the mirror. Mell's voice had become so frighting that Zell thought he saw the frame of the mirror shake.

Zell thought of Seifer- how he had killed Squall, the father of his child, right in front of his eyes. He thought of Irvine and his lies and mistakes and his unwillingness to understand. When he had called him a whore at one of his most vulnerable moments. The woman who threatened to take his child and kill his friends. _She threatened to kill his mother!_ With a grunt Zell could feel the blood in his veins run cold and cruel.

New urges ran through him stronger than ever as he desperately tried to grab on to Mell in the reaches of his mind. Somewhere with-in him he felt something clutch his soul. It was icy and sad and vicious and it filled the paling blond with white-hot power making him feel delirious and high, like he was on some drug and couldn't get enough. He wanted more, he thought desperately as he felt Mell entering his body.

Deep urges floated to the surface of his heart. Seifer and that Woman, F.L.A.R.E., those soldiers, werewolves. He just wanted to fucking rip them all apart and make blood-angels in their pooling organs! Then that was it, everything went dark and Zell had fallen somewhere alone, all by himself. Now he, Zell, was the one behind the mirror-and Mellenia...

**Nida **_(Choices)_

The ground looked as though it were coming up at him faster and faster and he would crash into it at any moment. What had he been thinking? He wasn't a vampire. He only jumped out of that aircraft without a cable because he wanted to keep up with Laharl-hopefully it would impress him. He didn't have the same reflexes as the other demons, however he _was _extremely skilled in using a whip.

Quickly preventing himself from smacking into the ground and breaking every bone in his half human body, Nida threw his whip so that the tip latched onto one of the taller trees on campus. It stopped his fall, making him swing like Indiana Jones before he rolled on the cushioning grass practically unmarked.

He could see Laharl sprinting directly in front of him and quickly brushed off his clothes, raveled his whip, and broke out in a sprint right after him.

The airships had taken care of the automatic turret guns that belonged to F.L.A.R.E. They laid in smoking metal heaps on the ground and made pathetic whirring noises.

"Delta, cover the entrance! No one gets in or out!" Laharl yelled across the green field. Laharl's army scattered about posting up for intruders. "PREVENT ANY INTERRUPTIONS!" he boomed again.

The rest of the vampires leaped high into the air and gripped onto the opening of F.L.A.R.E.'s force-field. They climbed in like an army of ants infiltrating a wasps nest, one after another.

Laharl leaped in behind his troops as Nida threw his whip once more and pulled himself up quickly showing off his amazing upper body strength. He wished Laharl would slow down enough for him to show it off, dammit. He didn't know exactly why, but he wanted the Commander to see his rope tricks and he also couldn't wait to show off his fighting skills for him as well.

Nida dropped down and landed next to his companion, who had been amongst the vampire-soldiers. They had immediately begun scouting the area and covering entrances and sneak-attack spots.

They were all covered, Nida observed. It looked like Laharl had put those floor plans to good use, Nida smirked seeing that his contribution had helped.

Nida could sense the adrenaline radiating off of Laharl and Laharl could smell the rich odor of blood and fear coming from inside the building.

"Watch out for traps," Nida advised the troops, even though he didn't need to tell them twice...

"They aren't amateurs," Laharl remarked.

"Neither is F.L.A.R.E.," Nida replied matter-of-factly. "Just because you got _in_, doesn't mean you should underestimate them. We got in _too easily _now that I think about it..."

"You sure you're not still a bit loyal to them?" he shot at the former F.L.A.R.E. member.

"Don't hold your breath."

Laharl made a "Hmph" sound and walked ahead. It was obvious by the force-field that they had destroyed, that F.L.A.R.E. had been prepared for this attack, and they had definitely set traps. Nida knew the style of hunting demons. After all-he used to do it.

"The area is clear, Commander!" a soldier had relayed.

"Smash that door!'" Laharl barked as he sauntered towards the steps of the front entrance. Three Alpha soldiers lined up in front of the front entrance and blasted through with their machine guns.

Dozens of holes filled the doorway until chips of wood and metal lay on the ground creating an entrance. Laharl sure wasn't being subtle about this attack at all. He may as well just blew up the whole damn school.

Once Laharl was satisfied he commanded, "Advance, front team!"

The front line section of the Delta team filed inside the university with their weapons out and ready.

"You sure you want to do this?" Nida asked.

Laharl looked at him sideways and said. "We've had this discussion about choices already. I've made mine. Now just worry about yours."

"Clear!" a soldier called and Nida watched him step into the building.

**Selphie and Fujin **_(That's What Makes You Beautiful)_

The two girls sipped their hot chocolate and flipped through colorful articles in the magazine section of the book store. Fujin flipped through hers and stopped at a section on a woman named Lady Gaga. She had been reading for only 20 seconds and quickly deduced that this woman was clearly insane and wanted attention for it. What else could you think when you saw a person wear an outfit made entirely of steak? O . 0

It neared closely to 7:30 pm. when Selphie had suggested they change into their dresses. Fujin tilted her head to the side when Selphie had dragged her to the bathroom. She muttered something about "stop being afraid to be ghetto," and pushed Fujin in the stall with her dress.

It's not that Fujin wasn't afraid to be a little ghetto. She was afraid of being homeless, and changing in the bathroom was borderline homeless...

Selphie came out of her stall first and begin applying her make up as she examined herself in the big bathroom mirror. "Fujin, hurry. It doesn't take that long to change clothes," she called into the stall.

Fujin walked awkwardly out of the stall in her high heels and half-stumbled towards the mirror. Selphie's eyes grew big."I knew blue was your color."

Fujin looked worriedly at her reflection. "Why did we change in a bathroom at a bookstore?" she asked.

"You didn't think we would drive all the way back to my place and change did you? Don't sweat it, I do this all the time!" Selphie explained as she pulled out her make-up bag and plopped it on the sink. Fujin watched her the whole time thinking to herself: Ghe-tto...

Anyway, Rathchetness aside...Selphie looked completely comfortable and cute in her cheetah print dress and cheetah heels.

"So let me guess. Tonight your going as a cheetah?" Fujin half stated.

"Yes, because they're the fastest bitches in the jungle," Selphie explained proudly.

Fujin didn't know what to think of herself though as she looked in the reflection at her blue zebra dress.

"Stop that now!" Selphie demanded.

Fujin arched the eyebrow that wasn't covered by an eye-patch "What?"

"Your insecurities and doubts are written all over your face. Fujin, you're a pretty girl and even sexy. Do you know what makes you even sexier? The fact that you don't know you are."

"Really?"

"Duh...there's a difference between girls like me (the ones who are aware of their looks) and girls like you (girls who aren't). The difference is that girls like me have to work a little harder, where as you...well people will always be attracted to you as long as you stay...you..."

"So you're saying...my lady parts are secret weapons?"

Selphie smiled. "Exactly. Life is easier for girls because they have boobies, but the great thing about our bodies is that we can use them to survive. That's why you're a zebra."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Fujin asked.

Selphie stopped reapplying lipstick and looked at Fujin's reflection and said, "You are a zebra because a man cannot define you by the shape of your body. Just like a zebra is not defined by its stripes. We're creatures of beauty and grace, and we have that in common with zebras, get it?"

Fujin nodded, understanding growing across her face. "You really think I look good?" It was going to take her a while to not feel ridiculous in this outfit.

"You're gorgeous, now lets put some make up on you and enhance your features a little more," Selphie reasoned while reaching for her eye brush bag.

"Okay," Fujin agreed easily. Selphie grinned at how easy it was becoming to make Fujin aware of her own beauty.

She grabbed Fujin's face and was about to apply foundation but stopped. "What?" Fujin asked.

"Anyone ever tell you that you have really nice skin?

**Laharl **(_Radar)_

The soldiers had posted up inside the university, at every possible entrance and immediately began scouting around for traps and F.L.A.R.E. members, but found nothing. The place had appeared to be completely deserted.

"Keep your eyes peeled." Laharl spoke into the eerie silence as he stepped closer to the foot of the steps of the Welcoming Center. He looked down at the electronic blue print that had been built into his crossbow. There was a radar on the screen of his weapon that displayed where heat-based life forms were located, and locations of vampires as well.

Of course Nida's location showed up as human on his crossbow, but he was on their side so he was okay. As far as any other humans went, nothing showed up. Laharl frowned. They were around somewhere, unfortunately his map only covered 50 yards from his location. He would have to go deeper to discover their location.

The room that they were in was appropriately labeled Welcoming Center on his electronic blueprint, and the place that Nida had mentioned (where they would complete the mission) was- "It's this way," the Asian boy gestured to a room that a few vampires were standing by. They had had it covered and "cleared" and gave the signal for the commander to advance.

Laharl gave the orders for Team Alpha (Offensive) to accompany him, while everyone else (Delta) would play flank and guard the rear. Everyone else would stay in The Welcoming Center; Nida followed along staying at the vixen's side faithfully.

He entered into the next room to the East. On his blueprint it read: The Library. It was here- The entrance to F.L.A.R.E.'s underground.

Nida walked over to a bookshelf by himself and pulled out a series of books. Laharl and the Alpha team watched and waited as he reversed them so that the pages would face outwards when he placed them back into the bookcase. A mechanism clicked loudly and the bookcase descended down into a pocket in the floor. The ground adjusted itself with carpet attached to sliding metal and covered the top of the bookshelf. It was as though the shelf had never even been there.

"Clever," Laharl muttered.

"Common sense really..." Nida mimicked his response channeling a certain classy vampire.

Laharl arched his eyebrow, yet disregarded the playful comment and addressed his soldiers. "Alpha take the head, The Commander and Kinneas are mine, everyone else: Shoot to kill. Remember that-Delta guard the rear." Alpha and Delta gave their "Yes sirs!" and the team moved forward into the metallic corridor that lead to the F.L.A.R.E. underground.

Upon hearing about Irvine-his former best friend and Martine-his former commander, Nida swallowed a lump in his throat. Alpha team had disappeared down the hall, leaving Nida and Laharl alone in the Library with team Delta.

Nida didn't want to bring up the topic from before. He didn't want to throw off Laharl's focus, but Laharl had shocked Nida, "I'll say this so that the tension between us can go away...and so I can focus," (and have something to look forward to after this, he wanted to add) Laharl suddenly said.

"What?" Nida asked quickly.

"Yes, I'll go out with you."

"Okay." Nida gave a goofy dude-like grin, but Laharl just gave a curt nod and rolled his eyes at the Asian boy. In a lot of ways (even though they were completely different) Laharl had a lot of Squall-like mannerisms.

When one of the soldiers from team Alpha called "Clear" they proceeded down the hall, Delta following tentatively behind.

Had Laharl just shared a weird almost-romantic moment with Nida? Whatever it was, their moment was ruined when there was abrupt gunfire and the sound of battle coming from up ahead.

Laharl's whole demeanor changed back to its blood thirsty nature and he sprinted down the hallway brandishing his crossbow, Nida quickly trailed behind and cracked his whip.

**Mellenia **(_Trust)_

The first thing he noticed about Zell's body, was how hungry he was and how queasy he had felt. It was as though he would throw up if he didn't mentally push it down and control the urge to purge. It sucked that the first thing he felt was nausea.

Anyway...he did it! Zell and Mellenia had successfully made the change. He had done it! The boys had actually done it! What a relief, because Mell wasn't ready to disappear yet. As long as he shared a conscious with Zell, he was in danger if the boy got killed-at least this is what Mell's theory was-Mell wasn't exactly 100% _what _would happen if the body they shared would cease to function. He would have to congratulate Zell face-to-face later for making the change so quickly and successfully (next time they got close to a mirror).

However, there was no more time to celebrate and dwell on their most recent success; the door to Zell's Cell opened with a bang and S.E.E.D. soldiers filed inside.

Everything that Zell sees-Mell remembers.

It was like he had been watching a long-ass movie. Mell could even look at Zell's memories if he wanted to...

Mell forced his body to fidget nervously under the gaze of the soldiers (because they were so scary, right? Ha, Mell laughed). When he heard one of the guards' voices, he realized immediately who it was.

"Try anything funny and I'll punch your lights out." That was the one they called Biggs.

"I don't think the little punk is _that_ stupid," another soldier remarked. "Let's cuff 'em."

Mell smiled mischievously at the guards and batted his eyelashes as he held his wrists out. The guards looked at each other cautiously and nervously.

"What's the matter? You fellas look like you seen a ghost." Mell danced his wrists around in front of their faces.

"Don't fuck with us, little boy," the other familiar voice spoke. That was Wedge.

Mell rolled his eyes and with a smile still on his face, he changed the dance of his wrists, he was scaring the soldiers slightly by making his demeanor unpredictable.

Should he kill all of them? Snap their spines and dance happily under their raining blood? The urge to do so was so strong. One of them began moving towards him, he could smell the fear in his blood and hear his veins pumping blood in his neck.

Mell's fangs painfully unsheathed itself from his pink gums as he hypnotized them with his still mesmerizing hand-dance. Almost here, just come a little closer, almost-

_NO!_

Mell sheathed his fangs quickly (which was rather painful) and felt himself get grabbed roughly by the soldier. He cuffed the small blond and pushed him forward towards the door that led to the white corridor. What the hell?

_Please, don't kill any humans. Just get us out of here like you said you would._

A fucking saint til the very end! Mell could hear Zell's words in the back of his mind clearly. Fine if that's the way he wanted it...

Mell wouldn't kill any humans for fun, but if it meant endangering himself then he couldn't keep any promises. He was sure to relay that thought to Zell, whether he liked it or not.

Six guards had visited him on his last day, like always, and escorted him down those white sterile halls that he had only seen through the eyes of Zell. They truly were horrid, and the lights were painfully bright without the eye protectors that the guards wore. Mell laughed inwardly. They truly had no idea

that Zell was a completely different person right now. Humans were so thick...

He could read the guards around him like books. Half of them were scared of him slightly. He knew for a fact that Biggs and Wedge wanted to kick his ass again because Zell had embarrassed the shit out of them. Mell smirked as he replayed the unexpected ass-whooping in his head. Then his expression went dark as he remembered the pain that they had caused him later.

So, you like jumping people huh? You can believe that payback would be served to those two. It was just all about the right timing.

All seven of them entered the large high-powered elevator. Biggs had nudged Mell forward with the butt of his gun. Mell eyed him curiously, but resumed looking forward at the closing elevator doors. Hmmm he would suffer first, Mell thought devilishly (You would think that they'd learn their lesson the first time).

The elevator ride was showing to be quite long so Mell had begun shifting back and forth on his heels. His bare feet moving against the tiles of the grainy metallic floor. Before he knew it, he had practically started dancing to complete silence (except for the whir of the elevator).

"Stand still dammit!" Biggs barked. What a tool.

Mellenia stopped gyrating his hips and glanced at the well-built soldier-man. (Hee hee Soldier-man).

"Aww, but I'm going to be executed soon," I just wanted to have one final dance. Mell added an innocent giggle.

_What are you doing?_ Zell asked.

_Shhhh! I'm trying to concentrate!,_ Mell shot back at Zell in his mind.

"My that's a big gun you have there," Mell and Wedge were the only ones that noticed that Biggs had shifted uncomfortably. It was brief but it had definitely happened. "Can I touch it?"

"If you don't turn around and shut the fuck up, I will shoot you," he warned.

"Fag," Wedge added under his breath, but audibly enough for everyone in the elevator to hear.

Mell had then completely ignored them and was now leaning against the elevator door very much comfortably. He faced the group of soldiers and spoke. "Raise your hands if you have kids," Mell ordered playfully.

He could hear them swallowing the lumps in their throats. None of them moved. "None of you? Hm that's a shame," he continued to flirt with Biggs again, focusing all of his eye contact on him. "Big handsome stud like you." Wedge stepped forward and smashed his knuckles into Mell's cheek, making him rock to the side and spit out blood.

"Shut the fuck up, you damn freak!" he practically screamed. Clearly he was either a homophobe or a demophobe.

If it were Zell that had gotten punched, he probably would have just went through the wall. But Mellenia...

His head had only turned briefly and his lip bled a small line of crimson. He licked it seductively and said, "my dead grandmother hits harder than that."

Suddenly Mell smashed his foot into Wedge's nuts (again but only much much harder this time), causing the man to fall to his knees. Once his face was close enough to Zell's waist, the tattooed vampire wasted no time. He took his knee and smashed it into the man's face. Breaking first, the visor over his eyes, and then his nose (and yes, this time it was a FULL break, you could hear the _CRUNCHing _sound).

He fell to the ground unconscious, and the pain he felt when Zell had hurt him earlier was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling now.

The other soldiers were on him in seconds (only because Mell allowed them to though, hee hee) and Biggs was punching him in his face as many times as he could while two others held the boy's body down.

One other soldier was tending to Wedge and the other had begun to refrain Biggs from wailing on Mell.

After about the fourth punch directly to the face, the other soldier had managed to pull Biggs off of the boy. "Keep it together!" he warned Biggs. Ah, Mell and Zell's thought process seemed to click at the same time. It was the soldier from before! The nice guard who was...well nice. The one who had carried a badly beat up Zell all the way to his cell.

Biggs pulled out his gun, cocked it and aimed at the other soldier, who had held his hands up. "You stopped me last time from fucking this bitch up, you try to protect this monster again I'll shoot your ass where you stand." His threat was final.

The nice soldier had nodded his understanding as the elevator made a ding noise and the doors opened. Biggs grabbed Zell (removing him from the other two soldiers' grips) and said, "You two: take Wedge up to the medical wing. You two come with me. He had gestured to one other soldier and the nice soldier to continue to escort Zell to the Operation Room.

The two soldiers tended to the badly beaten Wedge and rode the elevator back the other direction after Mellenia and the three guards had stepped off.

Biggs grabbed Mell's wrist roughly as they walked. "You're quite a handful," Biggs whispered in Zell's ear a little too closely for Zell's approval. It looked like Mell's little snake charm had worked on this idiot.

_Eww gross_.

_Don't worry Zell. I won't let anything happen to you, this is my body too remember?_

Biggs continued, "I've always wondered what one of you freaks would be like..."

Zell slapped his forehead.

_You turned him gay? HOW!?_ Zell cried.

Mell could sense Biggs' irrational thought increasing as he seemed to walk faster down the white corridor, dragging the boy along with him roughly.

He squinted through the bright lights hard enough to see that they had finally reached The Operation Room.

Once the three soldiers plus Zell/Mell had reached the door of the Operation Room, Biggs stopped the group and ordered his colleagues, "Stay out here, make sure no one gets in until I say so, got it?"

"Yes, sir!" They both chimed.

_Mellenia I can see where this is going-you better fucking do something!_

_I have it covered , don't worry. It's all part of the plan._ It was as though Mell could feel Zell frown with doubt. _Trust me_.

Mell was shoved roughly in the room which he noticed was completely dark, however he could still see (the perks of being a vampire) that it was a regular doctors office. Equipped with a large looking mechanical deathtrap that hoovered next to the operating table.

Mell heard the door shut behind him and lock with a click, then light filled the room. Mell turned towards Biggs and saw exactly what he had been expecting to see.

The smell of lust came from the man. Mell had succeeded in getting the strongest of the bunch alone, he had also managed to knock out Wedge, which essentially cut half of his little escort team. This made things so much easier. Mell had this man right where he wanted-in a locked room with no escape.

"Sit on the table," Biggs commanded Mell.

Mell forced himself to flinch like he was afraid of the man, but Zell could tell that Mell was just pretending to be scared.

_?_

Mell did as he was told and unsheathed his claws very subtly without Biggs being able to see. He was also very close to letting his fangs descend downward and out of his gums.

"Hurry up dammit!" Biggs barked as he began unbuckling his pants. Once Mell had seen the disgusting member Mell swung his wrists upward and was about to slice the organs from the soldier's body, but a rapping at the door could be heard.

"Hey what's going on in there?" It was one of the soldiers standing outside. A gun-shot went off from the hallway, causing Mell and Biggs to jump (and yes, this time the surprise was real on Mell's part). Another sound was a body hitting the ground outside. Biggs hurried to zip up his pants and grab his gun, but it was too late-the door clicked unlocked then swung open.

It was the nice soldier, he began firing his gun at Biggs who rolled out of the way and continued wrestling with his gun. Mell screamed a little too over-dramatically and ran to the back corner of the room and cowered in pretend fear as the two soldiers exchanged fire with one another.

Zell rolled his eyes and said _Really?_

_It's not that hard to act like you, Zell._

_Fuck you..._Zell pouted.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Biggs asked the other soldier over their gunfire. Biggs had opened a floor cupboard to use as a shield, but he had been shot in the arm and his gun had flown out of his arms and slid-landed right by Zell's quivering toes.

Biggs lay on the floor grunting and trying to stop the bleeding. The good soldier who shot him stepped fully into the room and locked the door behind him. Once the door was locked Mell stood up and watched the good soldier's actions. If he killed Biggs then that meant Mell wouldn't have to, giving Zell one less thing to bitch about.

In the back of his mind, he could feel Zell smiling warmly at the soldier who had protected them for the _third_ time today. He was standing over the asshole's body looking down at him pitifully.

"Picking on people who can't fight back...loser..." he insulted Biggs while he lay on the ground.

"You're a traitor! You'll pay for this!" Biggs attempted to spit in the man's direction.

The good soldier aimed his gun at the soldier's knee-caps and fired one bullet into each.

"AhhhHHHH!" he howled with endless pain and then went into shock.

Mell gawked at the sight unraveling before him. Whoever this man was sure knew how to play the Hero Card.

The blue-eyed boy went back into Zell mode, even though he was completely turned on by this soldier.

_Damn. _

"T-thank you, sir," he stammered nervously.

It was as though the soldier had forgotten that Mell was standing there watching the entire time. He looked up at him and stormed across the room towards him. If Mell had sensed any type of maliciousness from this man, he would have just killed him, but he didn't so he allowed the man to grab his face and ask, "Are you hurt? Did he touch you?"

"No, I think I'm okay." He couldn't see the man's eyes because of his visor, but he felt and sounded _so _familiar. Like being around him was easy for _both_ of them.

He sensed the relief wash over the soldier as his whole posture changed. "Okay good. Now-" he started as he picked Bigg's gun up off of the floor and handed it to Zell. "You know how to use one of these?"

"Umm-" Mell began very Zell-like as he grabbed the gun out of the man's hands.

"Officer Biggs! Open this door immediately. Why is it locked?" That accent combined with that annoying high pitched tone! The doctor!

"Break it!" another voice boomed behind the door with force. It was _Her! _Mell could feel Zell beginning to panic. He closed his eyes and reassured Zell that it would be okay. He calmed down a little bit. She won't be a problem for long, Mell thought hellishly.

The good soldier shoved the gun in Mell's hands completely. "You have to run. I'll meet up with you later. Keep heading straight until you reach the Main Elevator Shaft!"

**!BANG!**

Someone had begun slamming on the door violently.

**!BANG!**

"Go!" The man shoved him towards the corner of the room, and shot Zell's handcuffs off. They broke and immediately stopped glowing, but still irritated Mell's skin. Mell felt a wave of power overwhelm him. His full strength was no longer barred off!

Well I'll be damned...

"Climb!" The good soldier hoisted Mell up on his shoulders and put him in front of a vent. "Crawl through there! Hurry!"

Mell knew that since his powers had returned, he could easily just kill the soldiers behind the door, but that would probably cause him to break a nail. Using the soldier who was helping him as an obstacle for the S.E.E.D. Soldiers banging on the door seemed like a much better idea and would keep his manicure completely in tact, also.

Mell ripped the gate off of the hinges and threw it on the ground . Using the man holding him up as leverage, he crawled into the tight space but before he did he made sure he said "Thanks" to the guy. He crawled hastily and efficiently with agile speed. It sure felt good to have full use of his abilities back! He felt like a freed bird!

_More like a loose mouse._

_Shut up!_

He had gotten a few yards away when he heard a torrent of gunfire, then he felt the whole ventilation system shake as he heard the explosion behind him go off. Then there was silence. Mell could feel Zell's concern for the soldier's safety.

"Stop those gushy feelings!" Mell said out loud as he continued to crawl forward. "You're making it hard for me to focus."

Zell immediately tried to focus on getting out instead.

"That's much better," Mell commented out loud again. "...you're still a pussy though."

Had Mell's attitude really changed because of Zell's human-like feelings? Or was he mad perhaps because someone might have gotten hurt because of him...

Hmmm...nah it was those feelings...

**? **(_Preparation) _**10 Minutes Before Scheduled Abortion+Termination**

She was on her way to Zell's scheduled Operations when she got the alert from the missile base via F.L.A.R.E.. The device on her arm vibrated furiously letting her know that she received a notification. It was a message from Commander Martine.

The engineers of the Galbadian Missile Base had alerted her that they were going into standby mode and she should ready her troops for incoming attack. Images of Estharian ships flashed across the screen on her arm.

If it was the Loire Kingdom, they were in for a special treat...her eyes flashed dangerously as the thought of a battle thrilled her. Killing that many vampires would truly brighten her day.

She took care of her duties in a multitask fashion: As she keyed in a few commands in the communicator on her wrist, she told all Officers to prepare the troops on their floor.

And just like that she was done! She did all of this while strutting towards the Operation Room to see Zell Aborted, then shortly after _Terminated._

She got off of the elevator, and headed towards the Operation Room, followed by five normal level escort guards and of course her personal favorite soldier: Xu. They walked down the white lit hall in formation.

She wanted to bring as many people with her as she could to witness the extraction of a demon from a human. This would show that S.E.E.D. And F.L.A.R.E. were doing their jobs, and the soldiers would remain faithful and have even more of a reason to serve under S.E.E.D. Ah she loved her job so much, she thought as a gunshot went off very closely from their location. She instinctively took off towards the sound. Her irritation surfaced as she and her group rounded the corner .

There was that popcorn shrimp of a doctor heading towards the Operation Room as well, but this wasn't the only thing that disturbed her. On the ground in front of the door...laid a dead soldier.

Suddenly, the sound of more gunfire could be heard coming from the Operation Room. The soldiers didn't need an order from her, they cocked their machine guns and took their places on opposite sides of the hallway. Doctor Odine had stopped hopping his little ass towards the door as soon as he'd seen the dead soldier lying on the ground. When he heard gunfire he scuttled his penguin body quickly back towards the opposite end of the hall.

She heard some one yell after they had been shot. Grunts of pain were heard before one of her soldiers had opened the door and began firing inside the room.

Xu took out her machine gun and stood in front of her superior. "Someone find out what the hell is going on in there!" she commanded.

**Xu **_(Loose)_

After that last explosion (which killed half of the escort team and left one other soldier badly injured), Xu and the other two able-bodied soldiers stepped over their comrades' bloody limbs and examined the Operation Room cautiously.

If Xu wasn't serious about her job she would have just laughed when she saw Bigg's bulky shot up form on the ground covered in destruction, blood and ruble. Had he been killed or something? she thought jokingly. No big loss if he had been. The man was a tool...

One soldier rushed to his aid, while the other ran towards the opened ventilation shaft and the grate that lay forgotten on the floor.

Biggs shot up and start spouting off frantically. The man truly was an ape, Xu sighed.

"Traitor...in this facility...saved...target..." his head lolled to the side dramatically.

Xu rolled her eyes after the soldier reported that Biggs had fainted (again). Once, Xu had called "clear", the Doctor and her superior entered the room. She waited for her superior to take a spot next to her.

"Status?" Xu demanded flatly.

The soldier crouching by Biggs stood up, put his gun at ease, fixed his posture and reported that, "Sgt. Biggs was shot three times. Once in the shoulder and once in each knee. He requires medical attention and he mentioned something about one of the men in his escort team going crazy and killing everyone, then helping Target Dincht escape."

"Take Sgt. Biggs to the medical ward immediately," Xu ordered efficiently, and her beautiful superior smiled with approval.

He hoisted Biggs over his shoulder and sauntered out of the room with him.

The soldier standing next to the vent reported. "Ma'am, he escaped through here," he gestured above him at the tight space. "Some one helped him take off his inhibitors."

"He has full use of his powers now," Doctor Odine stated with a paling expression.

"Whether or not he had help, is up for speculation," she explained as she walked towards the space with her heels clicking loudly. "We've all seen what he can do with his hands tied _behind his back_, which is why I ordered him terminated," she explained with a slightly dangerous tone and giving the Doctor just as dangerous of a look.

Xu watched Doctor Odine's expression pale even further. "Not to worry, he will be shot as soon as he is found in this facility," she spoke with a promising edge to her voice. She continued to add, "If there _is_ someone helping him, well...we all know what happens to traitors in S.E.E.D."

Xu and she shared a hateful smile. It was brief- Xu's superior reached for her wrist device and began keying in commands.

**Selphie and Fujin (**_Let's Party)_

Club District. The girls had finally arrived and Selphie bounded happily towards the first block in her cheetah heels. "Where should we go first?" She asked with excited green eyes.

Fujin shrugged her shoulders without care. She never went clubbing, how should she know where to go first? "Where ever you want to go is fine."

"You know the way you're like nonchalant about everything reminds me of hanging out with a dude." Selphie seemed to be in thought as they walked, "I think it would be a good idea if we end the night at Incubus."

"Yeah sure. Whatever."

"There it is again."

"I can't help it."

"Hmm. I guess it's not a bad thing, it makes me feel safer actually."

The sound of sirens and screams filled the air of the streets causing the girls' heads to snap behind them. Police cars had filled the streets and officers had begun placing barricades at the ends of the blocks. Well this sure complicated things.

"What's going on?" Fujin asked.

"Hell if I know. Let's get closer and check it out."

Selphie and Fujin lightly jogged in their heels towards the nearest officer. "What's going on?" Selphie demanded from the badged man.

"The city is on lock-down. Everyone get inside a building and stay there until further notice," the police officer announced to everyone in earshot.

People who were just passing through the club district groaned in annoyance, they would have no other choice but to go inside a bar or a club, they looked serious about not letting anyone in or out. Even traffic had been stopped.

Selphie and Fujin continued walking the way that they had come.

"This doesn't really have anything to do with us. We weren't going to leave until late tonight anyway.

The streets should be open by then," Selphie reasoned.

Fujin nodded her agreement, but she had a strange gut feeling also.

**Nida and Laharl **_(Mask)_

The secret ramp that had led from The Library went all the way to a secret facility within the University. Upon discovering it Laharl and Nida had been ambushed by F.L.A.R.E. soldiers. Not cool...

Alpha managed to take out the group that had surprise attacked them.

The Loire army had suffered minor casualties, but there would be plenty more reinforcements that would come from the Welcoming Center if Laharl requested them.

Stepping over human corpses, they made their way into what appeared to be a large hallway. The place was designed like a huge intricate sheriff station, if that made any sense. Nida, Delta and what little remained of Alpha followed him silently as they made their way deeper into the hallway.

So F.L.A.R.E. had been fully aware of the Loire kingdom's invasion. That explains the force-field and the automatic turrets outside, and the ambush, but that didn't explain the absence of people (students) in Galbadia. It was very eerie even for Laharl.

Looking at his map, Laharl read off their status, "Just a few more yards!" he called as they entered a cube shaped room entitled on the map: The Gargoyle Room.

As if his voice alone had called out soldiers, they came at them from the tops of the cube shaped room ambushing them once again. This section had been coined correctly. Statues of Gargoyles lined the sides of the room.

Due to the fact that it had a high ceiling and a balcony with an arch, Laharl took this opportunity to somersault across the room with his crossbow held closely to his body as he flipped, dodging bullets as his body twisted and contorted in mid-air.

"Kill them All!" the voice of a F.L.A.R.E, soldier could be heard screaming above the sound of battle.

Nida cracked his whip in the direction of a F.L.A.R.E. soldier's neck and strangled him blue until his eyeballs splattered out of his head with bloody clouds flying out of the two new dark holes in his head.

**!Squishhhh!**

Behind himself he heard vampires killing soldiers as well. It was good to be on the right side then.  
He could sense another soldier coming at him from behind and he quickly flicked his wrist in his direction, slicing up and down his front without even looking at him, but he knew he was dead from the sound of the gun clanking on the ground.

A group of them charged at Nida and were getting ready to unleash a barrage of bullets at him, but Laharl (bless him) was swift with the crossbow.

Before he landed, using his vampire reflexes he shot a barrage of arrows from his metal tool. After he pulled his trigger, arrows scattered in a wide radius and hit their vital areas (i.e. throat, skull, lungs) causing red crimson streaks to fly out of their gaping fatal wounds.

Laharl smirked at Nida playfully when he landed after he had made his group kill. So that's what this is? Nida thought. A game? We can make it a game.

Another cluster of F.L.A.R.E. came out of nowhere this time they fired wooden bullets at Laharl and everyone around him. Nida's speed had increased so greatly, that he practically blurred in front of Laharl and absorbed the bullets that were meant for the vampire with his body.

He shook violently as they hit him and Laharl's stomach lurched as he saw the Asian boy get shot. Unfortunately, Laharl couldn't save everyone. A few vampires soldiers behind them had been killed by the wooden ammunition. Nida heard Laharl's breath hitch, but he didn't know whether it was for Nida getting shot or his comrades dying.

Wooden bullets leaked out of his body as Nida launched his whip and trapped all of the F.L.A.R.E. fighters in one big group after they could no longer fire. They struggled to get free but it was no good. Laharl watched them squirm before Nida clicked a switch on the handle of his whip.

Their bodies exploded, causing limbs to fly everywhere and blood to spatter all over the walls.

The Gargoyle room was now F.L.A.R.E. free. "Clear," one of the two Alpha teammates announced.

Laharl regarded Nida's bloody, but healing form standing close to him for a moment. He gave a nod and then yelled, "Onward towards the final room!"

He's good, both boys thought about one another as they examined each others blood covered faces and bodies.

The Estharian soldiers piled themselves on the final door, preparing to invade, but it was secured by heavy bolts.

"Sir, we will try to pry this open as quickly as we can," the head of Alpha team told Laharl.  
Nida had been so focused on Lahral's deadly beauty that he hadn't realized what was about to happen and when he did it was too late.

"Hurry," was all he replied as he looked down at his crossbow. The blueprint read that the room ahead was called Martine's Office. That was it-Martine had bolted himself up in his own damn ofice.

"No!" Nida screamed. "Don't force that door! It's a tr-"

"Garlic! Ruuuu-"

**!SHHZZZIILLL!**

The smell of garlic filled the air and made Laharl sick to his stomach while sizzling at his skin. He watched the skin of his soldiers char and turn gray and then black. It was a trap and Nida had let them fall for it! It was killing everyone, sizzling all of the vampires skin off like it was acid eating through wood.

This is how Laharl would die then? No, Nida wouldn't allow that to happen! In lightning quick speed, Laharl's feet were lifted off of the ground and he was carried into another room. Nida laid him on the ground and slammed the door behind him and locked it.

Laharl hacked and wheezed on the ground painfully, never letting go of his crossbow.

"Here. Take this," a familiar sexy voice grunted. _Sexy?_

The feeling of thin flesh being pressed against his lips could be felt. Laharl let his instincts take over, he unsheathed his fangs and pierced Nida's wrist.

The taste of warm blood filled his mouth as he felt himself being able breathe better now. He stopped drinking the Asian's sweet blood when he had felt that he'd had enough and could stand up. The burning sensation was gone and the two boys stood in front of each other, concern clearly written in Nida's eyes.

When his violet eyes finally realized that they'd been just staring blankly, Laharl jumped and said, "Thank you."

Nida didn't respond, he just stared at Laharl with an unreadable expression. Then, something unexpected happened. Nida grabbed the back of Laharl's nape and crushed their mouths together. They had kissed for what seemed like an eternity, so hard that it almost hurt, when strange yet familiar physical sensations burst throughout Laharl's body.

When they had finally parted both boys were out of breath and Laharl leaned into Nida (either still trying to recover from being poisoned with garlic and drinking the sweetest blood he'd ever tasted, or just the kiss by itself) for support. They were both breathless, but Nida managed to speak first. "That makes two now."

"What?" Laharl asked lifting his head to meet the boy's slant-eyed gaze.

"Twice now that I've saved you. You owe me big."

Laharl finally managed to pull himself off of Nida (even though he didn't want to) and went back to his cold Commander demeanor. "Let's finish this..."

Nida nodded his agreement and walked over to some electronic containers lined up on a counter on the wall. He keyed in a password unlocking them revealing some very unique equipment.

"Gas masks," he answered to Laharl's questioning gaze. "You'll need one if you want to go back out there."

It was times like these where Laharl couldn't hide his mutual attraction from the boy, especially not from himself.

**Laharl **_(Finish Alone)_

Laharl swallowed cold lumps of guilt down as he stepped over more and more of his fallen comrades. If it were true that vampires burst into flame when they walked into direct sunlight, this is what they'd look like. Charred, half-flaming already decaying bodies. They were all dead... F.L.A.R.E...

"You gonna call more back up?" Nida asked. "I think you should..."

Laharl remained quiet a bit before answering quietly, "No. Take me inside. I'll finish this part myself if I have to."

The unstoppable tone in his voice and his serious expression showed that there would be no convincing him, and no one else would die to complete a mission only he could finish.

"This is how the door was _supposed _to be opened," Nida explained before he demonstrated. He walked up to the panel next to the door and mashed his palm into the foam of the wall and jumped back brandishing his whip as the bolts landed and rolled onto the floor.

The door opened slowly and silently just a crack. The violet haired beauty looked to Nida and said, "Thanks. Head back and let everyone know I will join them shortly."

Nida's face paled. "What?"

"I'm doing this on my own. I don't want you to get hurt."

Nida's expression changed to an understanding one. "If you get hurt I'll kick your ass," he threatened as he walked past Laharl. Just like that, he was gone.

A wave of relief washed over him. He didn't know what would happen if he saw Nida die in front of him. Guess this meant he cared about him...Laharl took a breath and stepped forward into Martine's Office. Lo and behold, you'll never guess who was sitting at Martine's desk.

"Step right up to see the main attraction," his older dangerous voice carried over his fancy desk and fell around Laharl's pretty ears.

"Fuck you," Laharl spat. "You know exactly why I've come here. So let's not waste any time." With his crossbow already in his hand, he blasted a scatter shot in Martine's direction. The general ducked behind his desk and pressed a button under the fine oak. Spears had erected out of the ground underneath where Laharl stood and stabbed into his body, barely missing his heart.

He had been pinned...and rendered helpless by at least 5 elongated black iron fire pokers. Pain shot through his body as he struggled. He couldn't lift himself off of the blades.

"Now that I have your attention, why don't you calm that nasty temper of yours and listen," Martine suggested as he walked around his desk with a look of disgust.

Laharl spat the internal blood that gurgled up to his throat into the man's face, signifying his willingness to cooperate.

"Disgusting," Martine remarked flatly, as he took a black iron spear from off of the wall and jammed it slowly into Laharl's rib. He clenched his teeth in pain so as not so scream.

"RRrraahh!" he cried in agony. The muscles in his jaw were so tight, you could easily see his fangs.

"Will you behave now?" Laharl hung his head in exhaustion. He resembled one Jesus on The Cross. "Now explain, why have you waged war on us humans? F.L.A.R.E. in particular."

"Some time ago. You sent a man with a shotgun to kidnap, our prince. You succeeded and in turn ended up killing our other prince. Now where is he? Where's Zell!?" Laharl demanded breathlessly.

Martine laughed hysterically. "You monsters and your bouts of revenge. I'll tell you exactly where he is. He's over at the S.E.E.D. Facility getting _fixed_." Martine got really close to Laharl's dripping wet face. "I'm only telling you because I'm going to kill you." He swung his right arm and hooked the poor trapped vampire right in the jaw making him spit blood. For a human attack, that had actually hurt...

"Any last words?" Martine asked the boy looking at him in disgust.

Laharl remained silent. He would not waste his last breath on a human. He was disgusting. Instead he closed his eyes and tried to remember the faces of people he cared about.

Zell, I tried my best. Looks like I wasn't good enough. Nida, I'm confused about our relationship, but I enjoyed our short time together. I _will_ miss you and your cute human awkwardness. Squall. I will be joining you soon, brother.

Martine grabbed a wooden stake out of his desk drawer. He raised his wrist to pierce through the violet eyed monster's heart and began chanting a biblical war scripture. "The power of Christ-AhhhHH!"

**!CRUNCH CRACKLE!**

Laharl's head snapped up. Through his blurring vision he could see that someone had mauled Martine-the sound of ripping, biting and slashing could be heard.

"You!" Laharl heard Martine's pain filled suffering voice say. "No! Stay away from me! You traitor! You'll all burn in hell!"

Another gory bite and the man had been silenced for good, the sound of blood splashing on the carpeted office filled his ears. The sound of bones being crushed and snapped filled Laharl's mind as he passed out completely.

**Comfort **_(Didn't see that coming, actually)_

Crawling through vents was desperate. But hey this was a desperate time, right? So it called for desperate shit, as Comfort would put it. In her last interrogation with that _woman _who had brought them here, she learned two things:

One: She needed to get the fuck out as fast as possible.

Two: Climbing _upward_ was crucial if she wanted to get out.

Her plan was becoming more and more clearer. She was beginning to fully understand how to get out, but what about Nuke, Zell and (as much of a long shot as it sounded) Russel. Her head hurt from thinking too hard for too long in such a small cramped space. As a dancer, she was skinny and fit, but she still had a womanly shape, which meant her hips and sometimes plump bottom would bang against the walls of the vents.

Every time she made a loud noise, she winced and sighed with relief (black girl problems...).

She had peered into various rooms from her overhead view in the vents and she had not seen Russel, Zell or Nuke.

If she went with her gut, she knew that Zell was probably being kept on a completely different floor probably the very bottom floor, but where would Nuke or Russel be?

She couldn't crawl around aimlessly forever. She needed a solid lead as to their whereabouts. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't escape here with out them. It went against her upbringing to abandon her friends. Also, she somehow felt they would stand more of a chance if they were all together. Like they had on the mountains.

Think, Comfort! Think! Where can I find information on their locations, she thought.

She found herself crawling above soldier pens. They all looked like regular military pens. She wouldn't find information here, but she was on the right track. Sneaking around like this made her feel like some sort of mouse. A gigantic spy mouse...

Whenever there was an opening above her, she took it. She must have crawled about ten floors up before she had to stop and take a breath. Good thing she was in shape. Making sure not to breath too loudly because of the opening next to her, she peered into it and almost pissed herself with joy.

Carpeted floors, sofas, refrigerators! These were rooms obviously belonging to high ranking soldiers! However, there was someone in this one. Definitely couldn't drop down here.

Comfort put her thick jet black curls behind her back and continued forward a couple of rooms over until she found one that was empty. Her fingers slipped through the openings of the grate and she gave it one harsh tug. Briefly wincing at the loud noise she had made, she placed her feet in front of her and dropped down into the room with ease.

She was in what appeared to be a living room, or rather a sitting room (there was no television set). She hopped over a sofa quietly like a ninja, not knowing 100 percent whether she was all alone or not. She had to act quickly because she could NOT-under any circumstances-get caught.

There had to be some sort of log, or-or database _somewhere_! Comfort moved around the flat frantically but without breaking or knocking anything over. On the refrigerator there was a piece of parchment with scribbled handwriting.

Comfort peered closer at the sticky-note on the fridge and almost screamed in delight at what she read:

_Comfort F. Negative Floor -060 (Women)_

_Nuke Negative Floor -200 (Children's Ward)_

_Russel B. Negative Floor -500 (Men)_

_Zell D. POSOTIVE (Possible Threat) Floor -750 (Hostiles and Others)_

Comfort rolled her eyes at the information regarding Zell. These people have lost it and were going overboard. Zell was possibly the most sweetest (and sometimes admittedly dumbest) people you could ever meet. They really saw him as hostile?

A woman had written this, she could tell because even though it was just scribble the light handwriting was effeminate and light.

She had been on floor -60. Noting the hyphenation before the number; the numbers got bigger as it went down.

So Nuke was on floor -200, Russel on -500 and Zell was on (more like "somewhere near" at this point) 750. 2, 5, and 7.5. She could remember that.

She made her way back towards the vent. She would have a lot of descending to do! Would it even be possible to NOT use the elevator.? If she _did _use the elevator surely she would get caught.

She made her way jumping over the sofa again and reached her arms up for the vent, but something to her left gleamed out the corner of her eye.

She turned and saw what it was. A glass casing with trophies, medals and awards. As if her legs were moving on her own, she made her way towards the wall curiously.

Whoever lived in this flat was a Thai fighting master, expert marksman and had a certification to carry firearms. Top of class, valedictorian, yadda yadda yadda. Okay! Comfort thought. We get it, the person has talent.

She scoffed at the fancy display, fighting the urge to smash it while raising her gaze towards the mantel.

It was aligned with photographs and Comfort's breath hitched when she realized who was in these photos. "Oh my God," she heard herself say aloud.

Of all rooms to break into, it just had to be that woman's! Panic settled in her legs, but she didn't leave. Not when she was this up close and personal without being detected.

There were photographs of her and more of her accomplishments and surprisingly to the dark skinned dancer, she had pictures of her family. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to focus on one photo in particular.

It was a picture of her, and what appeared to be her brother, because this boy was in every other picture that included her family. Also, their smiles-everything about their smiles was _shared_. The eyes especially, they shined bright with green intensity.

No.

It couldn't be! Comfort grabbed the picture frame off of the mantel intensely and examined the boy's face. Her eyes shimmered when realization hit. It was him-and what was worse was that it made perfect sense...

"Well fuck..."

And when a sliver or an inkling of doubt tried to resurface, another train of realization smacked her right in the face. The plaque that represented her certification of graduation in the F.L.A.R.E. unit.

Her name was printed at the bottom in huge, clear-as-day print.

**LIEN NEVILLE ALMASY**

The dancer barely had time to register this information, the door that led out to the corridor was opening...

**TBC**

**A/N: Haha! Selphie and Fujin always lighten things up when things are completely dark. Man so much violence in this chapter. That's actually what took so long. The fight scenes. I really wanted to deliver and I hope I did a good job XXDDD, I love explosions! -makes explosion sound like a child- As always, leave me love and feedback and I will gladly respond/appreciate it! Oh and happy 25th chapter.**


	26. Friday Night Lights pt 3

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references...violence...so much violence X_x**

**A/N: Number one: I'm forever apologetic for this chapter being so damn late. But as you all can see this is by far the longest update yet. (sigh) It really drained me, but I wasn't going to be able to enjoy my holidays without getting it up sometime before Christmas**

**Number two: Merry Christmas to everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing under Final Fantasy VIII or anything that belongs to Square -Enix**

**Chapter 26: Friday Night Lights Part 3**

**Xu**

Funny how that human boy keeps managing to escape Termination, Xu thought comically. It was at times like this where she was glad she could enjoy her own thoughts privately. If anyone ever found out about her sense of humor and the fact that she laughed at certain things (like how Biggs' body looked when he had been shot) she'd probably be facing the same fate as Zell.

When she thought of herself in Zell's shoes, she chuckled lightly. It was quite amusing that he gave them the slip and was a missing threat at the moment and even though it was her _JOB _to catch this boy, she wondered if he could make it out or not. A part of her hoped that he _did _make it out.

Don't get the wrong idea, Xu was everything but stupid. Don't think for one second that she'd be having any do-gooder thoughts about helping that boy. There was her opinion and her personal feelings, and then there was S.E.E.D. Who she was ever faithful to. They were two completely different things...

The soft click of heels disturbed her thoughts as she noticed her superior, Commander Lien Neville Almasy walking around the operating table of the Operation Room.

"I want attention turned on every hallway in this facility!" Commander Lien ordered. "Activate surveillance cameras that we no longer use and _especially_ ones with full range of ventilation systems. They couldn't have gotten far. Target Dincht and whoever is helping him are to be terminated without hesitation. Understood?"

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!" Everyone (including Xu) responded with the utmost cooperation and confidence.

"What about his associates," Xu asked curiously. "The child, the man and the girl."

"Their terminations are on standby for now. We need to focus on the main rat before it escapes. Xu and I will personally see to it that surveillance of the building is carried out accordingly. Officer Xu-"

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Meet me in the control room in ten minutes. But before that I want you to check the progress of Sargent Biggs and Lieutenant Wedge." Xu inwardly scoffed, but it was as though Commander Lien had heard it inside of her own head. "They _are _our teammates, regardless of their sometimes primitive actions, Xu."

"Yes, Ma'am I will check on them right away," Xu replied with humor in her voice. Commander Lien Almasy knew her _too_ well!

Xu left the room, her small hips snugged in her tight black military skirt switching down the hall. She heard the soft clicks of her superior's stiletto heels clicking in the opposite direction. It seems Commander Lien had business of her own to attend to...

**Lien**

Upon entering her military -based home, it only took seconds to realize that something wasn't right. For starters, her vent was open and the grate was lying on the floor. Next was the picture frame of her and her late brother that had obviously been shifted sideways and not in its usual spot. Was she imagining things? No. Lien Almasy didn't imagine things. Someone was in her house, and S.E.E.D. doesn't have any maids on its payroll, so housekeeping was clearly _not_ an option here.

Straightening her posture as she closed her door and locking it with a click, she took two careful steps to the side, prepared to dismantle or dismember any hostile threat that dared to invade her personal space. Not caring whether the soft clicks of her high heels could be heard, she peered quickly around her sofa. Nothing. Hmmm had she been imagining things all along?

She noticed the vent on the ground in the middle of her living room. She walked over to it and examined her surroundings while standing over it. Her vent sometimes _did_ fall open and off the hinges, this building was hi-tech but it was also very old...

Her mantle of photographs. She looked at it EVERY day. Who was she to say that maybe she hadn't left one turned awkwardly by accident? Maybe she was under more stress than normal. As though daring that last thought to last any longer, the gadget on her wrist buzzed violently three times. Ah yes, the reason why she was in her living quarters to begin with... 

Lien glanced at it with annoyance and noticed the red flashing bars. The battery needed to be changed as soon as possible or else...

It was a good thing she kept spares in her bedroom. She made her way straight to the back of her living quarters where her bedroom was and opened the sliding door leading to her walk-in-closet. She pulled back a poster of her favorite band in high school: Fly Leaf.

Behind her poster of the awesome band was an electronic keypad. She entered 2-2-4-1 and the small safe on the shelf beeped signifying that it had been unlocked. Lien moved her thick blonde hair out of her face and grabbed a battery.

She switched it with the one already in her gadget and placed the other one in a safe sealed bin so the metal from the battery would not corrode and create harmful aromas. All of the bars on her devices flickered brightly green and full.

"Much better," she said to it soothingly as though it were her pet. She took two extra spare batteries with her. She would definitely be needing them. Now the hunt for the escaped prisoner Zell Dincht could continue.

**Comfort**

She had watched the woman leave her home and shut her door with a soft click. The whole time that woman walked around the house, Comfort had struggled to find places to hide. She had actually almost ran out of hiding spots and almost got caught when Lien had gotten too close at one point.

Luckily, that stupid machine on her wrist buzzed her and she forgot about all home-abnormalities. Briefly thinking that she could have possibly been a ninja in her previous life, she decided it was time to leave this house and begin searching for her friends now that she had accurate information on their where a bouts.

Floors: -200, -500, and somewhere around -750. She had to be quick though, something was telling her she needed to hurry.

Then there was that nagging thought at the back of her mind saying she needed to look inside Lien's bedroom. But why? It had something to do with that thing she was always wearing. Maybe there would be some clues on finding her friends easier, she thought...or maybe she could find out Lien's weakness...something to stop her...

She was so close to the top of the facility right now, she could feel it-But she would _not_ go up towards safety right now. She would instead go down, descending into pretty much guaranteed capture...for the sake of Nuke, Russel and Zell.

Oh hell with it! she thought. She ran into Lien's bedroom as quietly and quickly as she could. Comfort had heard her go into her closet so Comfort did as well. There was nothing out of the ordinary, she thought. Clothes and a nice variety of shoes (all of them designer heels, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, and D & G just to name a few that Comfort actually recognized).

The girl of course had taste, Comfort thought. Comfort had good taste too, but that didn't mean you could catch her wearing this expensive shit. Especially with heels that high. A delightful shock was seeing a few extras of Lien's uniform hanging up in her large walk-in closet.

A dark thought flashed through Comfort's mind. Moments later one could find the dark-skinned dancer wearing one of Lien's uniforms and even trying on her shoes. The black and yellow body suit was skin tight and revealed all of Comfort's curves which she usually tried to hide most of the time with her baggy jeans.

It felt good to get rid of that hospital paper she was wearing, but this felt equally just as wrong yet right at the same time.

She stared awkwardly at the slit between her breast subtly showing out of the chest part of the body suit. She looked at the pair of hi-heeled black combat boots in the corner and fought with herself on whether she should try them on or not.

Again the resolution was "Oh hell with it".

Perfect fit, she thought. And they weren't that bad (she hadn't started walking around yet...to feel the actual pain of heels).

Comfort looked at herself in the mirror and thought, so this is what it's like to dress like a bad guy...

It felt good.

However, she needed to focus, she turned her attention back into the closet but still couldn't figure out what was so important in here. Then she examined the fly-leaf poster. White people have weird taste in music, she thought. Then her eyes grew wide with realization.

Remembering the sound of paper being moved, she pulled the poster back and saw the electronic keypad that led to the safe. She grabbed her long curly hair and tried as hard as she could to remember the notes she heard Lien press.

They played in her head even though she only heard it once. 2-2-4-1. that had to be it! Without a doubt that was the answer and she was so sure of it! She didn't think twice about pressing the wrong key and an alarm going off and getting caught. Basically: Worse case scenario.

She keyed in the numbers and to her delight the safe popped open. "Hell yeah!" she cheered out loud. Thanking God for being a dancer and able to remember notes being played, she rifled through the safe.

"Oh..." she said softly when she saw the contents of the safe. Three of those wrist gadget thingies lay innocently inside. They seemed to wiggled in the bin as though they were tempting Comfort to try one of them on.

They must be her spares, and these were batteries that go to them. She stared at the strange odd-colored pieces of technology for a while before finally grabbing one carefully.

What the hell were these things? There was only one way to find out what exactly Lien was using these things for. Her memory went back to the way it glowed a strange green color when Zell had tried to fight her in the mountains of Esthar...before they were captured and brought here.

Would it give her super powers? she thought goofishly. Comfort opened the device up and clasped it onto her left forearm. At first it was like any normal bracelet. It did nothing...

That's because it didn't have a battery in it, she realized. She grabbed one and stuck the small chip into the slot where it was obviously the only place it could fit. Without warning it buzzed to life and flashed green. Comfort yelped in shock as it constricted itself around her arm a little too tightly. It felt like it was going to rip her arm off!

Se didn't want to lose her arm because of this! Realizing how stupid she had been for messing around with something that wasn't hers! NO!

She had been wrestling with it but to her relief it finally stopped squeezing her, and loosened up a bit. But only a little. She stopped and calmed down. It was still pretty snug on her. With a harsh long vibration it rumbled her so much that her left breast began to feel uncomfortably ticklish. As soon as it had started it stopped and flickered, then went blank.

"Da fuck?" Comfort asked the device with an annoyed confused glare. It twitched slightly as if asking her the same question in response.

She tried taking it off, but it wouldn't budge. "Great..." she sighed exasperatedly. 

**Nida**

He had left when Laharl had told him to, after a certain point there was no arguing with that vampire, especially since he was already on a roll from leading the army of Estharian vampires. However, Nida just _had_ to come back. Needless to say, something about letting Laharl face Martine alone just didn't feel right.

He had only walked far enough so that Laharl would be reassured that the Asian boy was long gone (which he really wasn't). As he stepped closer quietly, he could clearly see Laharl's slim body standing in the door-frame. His long violet pony-tail hung to the middle of his shoulder blades.

He could hear the classy vampire conversing with another voice. Even though he couldn't see who the voice belonged to, he could tell by the rough tone that it was none other than Commander Martine. 

Nida's eyes barely had time to notice Laharl fire a round of arrows at Martine. The man had successfully evaded them all, but what happened next is what planted Nida to the floor momentarily.

Long skinny spears slammed into Laharl's body from every direction, suspending him about mid-air. It was as though his body became a limp rag-doll in some sort of sick ritual. Laharl's blood squirted upwards with the impalement, hitting the ceiling.

More words were being exchanged, while watching through the horror, Nida had heard some familiar words, but they wouldn't register until later. He had heard enough! Seeing the poor vampire like this with no chance of escape, enraged him and instincts he had never felt kicked in. The person who he had been loyal to was causing some one he cared about a great deal of pain.

Laharl had had his chance to redeem his pride, and get his revenge. Now it was Nida's turn to prove once and for all, he was no longer a part of F.L.A.R.E. And just as Laharl had been telling Nida all along, he made his choice.

With blinding speed Nida rushed around Laharl's suspended body along with all of the black iron spears. He slammed Martine against the edge of his own desk and crunching the lower half of his spine when he collided with the solid wood.

"Ahhh!" the man groaned in agony not knowing what hit him, but reached for a small antique container on his desk. He grabbed a fistful of garlic and threw it at his attacker, but the odor of it along with being touched by it had absolutely no harmful effect on Nida.

"That won't work on me," Nida told his pinned ex-Commander. Nida grabbed the older man's wrist and broke it completely with a loud **!SNAP! **Martine screamed in pain, while Nida spoke calmly over him, "I'm not a vampire."

After yowling in agony, the sweaty older man muttered "Y-you! You traitor. You're all going to burn in hell!" 

"Shut. The fuck. Up."Those were the last words Nida had said to his commander before his mouth stretched open sideways revealing horrible jagged razor sharp teeth. 

"NooOO!-Ahahhh" 

**!CRACK! CRUNCH!**

Nida's jaws crushed into the man's skull cracking it and dripping blood all over the carpet between their feet. The taste of the man's blood could have been better, but nonetheless it was good, his flesh tasted better than his blood though, so Nida took another bite.

The taste of delicious crimson exploded all over Nida's now massive tongue. He just kept on biting, until nothing was left but little pieces of broken bones laying in the middle of a red stained carpet.

When it was over, and Nida had ate the man's flesh completely along with his bones, his face began to contort back into what it used to be, just a pale skinned boy with cheery almond shaped eyes, that looked like they were filled with two Hershey kisses.

His chin and chest were covered with blood and bits of Martine's flesh. He knew he needed to tend to Laharl, but it was as though he were in a daze. He had just fucking ate a whole man...and loved it.

The pitter patter of footsteps could be heard coming down the tunnels and into the Gargoyle Room. Nida snapped out of his moment of bliss and cursed under his breath. His attention immediately went to Laharl, who was still pinned up in a mountain of spikes and dripping blood everywhere. The vampire groaned in his sleep. 

Nida quickly turned to him and proceeded to make himself look like he had been attempting to help the vampire down the whole time (and not snacking on his former headmaster and basking in the blissful taste of fresh meat and warm blood, which is EXACTLY what he had been doing). "This way! Up here!" Nida called to what he could see was the approaching Estharian Delta Fleet.

Jessie, the leader of the Delta Fleet's eyes opened wider when he saw his Commander hanging up on six different black iron pokers sticking out of the ground at various angles. "Help me get him down!" Nida beckoned at the gawking man.

Within seconds, everyone rushed to their commander's aide and gently and carefully lifted his body off of the sharp poles. They were especially careful with the one that was closest to his heart (the one in his ribcage).

Once they had them all out, they lowered Laharl's body on the ground and Nida chewed his lip with worry as he watched the other vampires fuss over him. "Is he okay?" Nida asked quietly.

The Delta Captain stood up from Laharl's body. He snarled in Nida's direction and said, "He'll be fine in a few hours, he lost a lot of blood-he needs to feed and then rest as soon as possible."

This Jessie person had never liked Nida ever since this operation had begun. Obviously because Nida was an outsider from the army. Yet here he was getting an inside role on the attack against Galbadia. Jealousy is an ugly trait, Nida mused as Jessie positioned Laharl's body on the floor of the office.

Jessie stood tall and mighty with a thick buff upper body. He was pale skinned with small eyes and he had battle scars all over him. He had definitely fought previous wars and didn't like to be undermined when it came to battle.

**Laharl**

His mind began to stir from the sweet taste of blood rushing at him for the second time that night. It wasn't the blood itself that called him back to battle, it was the person whom the blood belonged to. He knew immediately who's it was, which also sent a slight jolt of fear within him.

Laharl woke with a shocked expression, as though he had been brought back to life even though he knew he hadn't died. He frantically whacked his arms around and searched for his crossbow. "Where is he? I'll kill him!" he panted. Strong hands grabbed his shoulders and kept him still. "Jessie? What are you doing here? Where is Martine? I demand an explanation at once!"

Before Jessie even had a chance to answer, a familiar voice spoke, "He is dead," Laharl looked questioningly into Nida's gaze. He stood on the other side of the room watching Laharl and for some reason didn't dare come any loser. His words held so much mystery...

"Commander, you were attacked by their leader," Jessie, who was annoyed at Nida for speaking out of turn, glanced at the Asian slightly disgusted and continued, "I sensed danger, so I sent a small group along with me to check things out-good thing I did, you were almost completely wiped out. You're lucky to have this..._friend_...with you. He helped bring you back."

"Bring me back?" Laharl asked. The blood. Laharl licked his lips unintentionally sexually and directed his gaze once again on Nida, who seemed to fidget slightly upon receiving the look. "And Martine?" Laharl persisted even harder this time fighting to stand, but grabbing his ribs, when he felt a ripple of pain.

Jessie and Nida were both immediately at Laharl's side. Every Delta soldier around knew instinctively not to get in Jessie's way, they stood around different parts of the room patiently and quietly awaiting orders. They were well trained to stay out of the way and act as furniture until further notice.

Nida tightened his grip on Laharl. "I took care if him." His words hung between the two boys. Before Laharl could prod the question further, Nida interrupted, "He has been taken care of and he isn't coming back. F.L.A.R.E. is history." Laharl scanned the room looking from soldier to soldier then at Jessie, Over Nida's shoulder he noticed the fresh pool of blood near the desk.

Nida hoped that Laharl would end his questions there. To his delight the violet haired vampire nodded his head in understanding and slowly began to stand on his own to feet. Jessie and Nida released his elbows, only for Nida to have to catch the tilting boy.

"Sir, you've lost a great amount of blood," Jessie cautioned. "You will have to sit out the next portion of the battle."

The words hit Laharl like offending curse words towards his mother. He had come this far, he would be damned if he didn't continue this mission. "I'm fine," he argued. "I just need a little more blood and I'll be good to go. I can already feel myself healing. This does _not _under _any _circumstances reach the King. Am I clear?" Laharl said sternly to everyone.

All of the soldiers gulped and nodded giving their word.

Before Jessie could retort, Nida chimed in, "I've got your blood right here." He pulled his sleeve up and revealed the two bite marks on his high-yellow skin. "I will take care of him right here in the Gargoyle Room. You guys scout the area and find out the coordinates on the S.E.E.D. facility. That's where the prince is," Nida explained finally remembering which words Martine had used in his exchange with Laharl right before he ate-

"What is this S.E.E.D. Facility you speak of?" Jessie demanded.

Nida sighed and explained, "It's said to be some sort of hi-tech underground experimental research/military base that works directly above F.L.A.R.E.-they have some of the best fighters there and are highly trained to kill."

"It's where Zell is," Laharl added, his memory coming back to him.

"Right," Nida agreed.

"How about you just tell us where it is yourself then, since you know so much," Jessie challenged.

"I'm just an agent," Nida shot. "I've only ever heard rumors of it and just because I'm F.L.A.R.E. and we work under S.E.E.D. Doesn't mean I know it inside out like I did with _this_ place. They only let a select few have direct connections with them. Everyone else-like myself-we got our orders directly from Martine."

Laharl, who had stayed put during the debacle, could see that Nida was telling the truth and really was trying to help, he also noticed that Jessie noticed this too when he softened slightly.

The large man took all of this new information in and added with a dangerous tone and quickly hardened his demeanor again, "I don't take orders from you."

All eyes fell on Laharl who looked like he would faint again at any moment. "Do as Nida says," he finally ordered after obviously trying to catch his breath. "Search Martine's office and his computer, look for any clues you can find leading to the location. We're getting that Prince back at all costs."

The soldiers gave their "Yes, Sirs!", glad that they finally received an order and scattered in different directions searching for clues. Jessie didn't like the order, but did as he was told."You heard him, spread out look for clues, let's take a look at those computers."

Delta team spread and searched the databases for the location of the S.E.E.D. Facility, leaving Nida and Laharl off alone in the corner of the formerly living Martine's office. "That should keep them busy," Nida half-joked with that usual goofy charm about him. "Here take thi-" 

"I'm not drinking your blood anymore," Laharl said coldly walking towards the doorway that led to the Gargoyle Room.

Laharl wasn't looking at Nida, but instead he was looking at the ground as he walked. He looked awful...

"Why not? What's wrong with my blood?" Nida tried to ask without sounding like he was offended.

The violet haired vampire sat his slim body down on a ledge near a wall next to an ugly statue of a white marble Gargoyle.

"Don't worry, on my way back to the ship I'm going to drink plenty of pouches of blood from the Medic supply."

Nida still didn't know why the fact that Laharl wouldn't drink from him bothered him so much, and he needed to try to find out why. "You prefer HUMAN blood over mine?"

Laharl's exhausted face began to stretch with an a mused smile. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were getting...offended?"

"What?" The Asian boy's face was over-scrunched in a defensive expression. "Please," he said. "I'm just wondering why a classy, sexy young vampire, such as yourself would settle for that cheap human blood, when we both know you like mine better."

Laharl had enough strength to roll his eyes at the Asian boy in amusement, then suddenly Laharl remembered something. "Speaking of blood, I noticed the huge pile of it spread all over Martine's carpet..."

Nida's face became completely dark and expressionless. "Yeah so?"

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What?"

Laharl gave him a knowing look. There was no use lying to Laharl at this point. Nida felt the classy vampire's soft hand touch his shoulder lightly. Well, here goes nothing. Good-bye any chance of getting laid. "I ate him." 

Laharl was silent for a while and Nida immediately looked for signs of disgust and rejection, but instead Laharl just asked, "What was it like?"

Quickly getting over his shock from the question, but relieved none-the-less, Nida answered, "It was...absolutely incredible. I've never felt more powerful." This next part was hard to say "Especially when I crushed his bones with my jaw and ate his body with less than a dozen bites."

"Oh?" Laharl still remained neutral.

"You were hurt; he was going to kill you. I had to get rid of him for good. I made my _choice _just like you told me to. I chose you," he finalized. He looked to Laharl for a reaction. Something else besides indifference. "Say something."

"Well...I don't know what to say," Laharl chuckled lightly. "You're the first guy who had ever eaten someone who has tried to kill me...um thanks?"

"You're not disgusted?"

Laharl was actually more intrigued than anything. "Well I know you're different, but now I really see how. I'm not disgusted, Nida." Nida _was _different, which is why this was no surprise, but still his powers were definitely something worth looking into when they got the chance.

"Do me a favor?"

"Yeah."

"Don't tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed." 

Nida seemed to be relieved. Then he said, "you know, that makes three?"

"What?"

"Saving your ass, you're going to be owing me a lot more than thank-yous pretty soon," Nida flirted flashing a sexy grin.

"And how would you like those "thank-yous", my hero?" Laharl teased.

"Some of your sweet demon kisses to make my powers grow nice and strong."

Laharl had to stop himself from giggling like a bitch, so he leaned in closely prepared to kiss his Asian friend square on the lips and pay off some of his debts. But before their lips touched...

"SIR!" Jessie's hard gruff voice called. Nida had jumped so hard from the outburst and not wanting to get caught kissing the commander that he fell off of the bench with a cloud clamor.

Laharl, naturally more poised and better at hiding secrets simply looked at his Delta Leader and asked," What is it, Jessie?"

Jessie disregarded the goofy Asian boy and informed Laharl, "We've found the location of S.E.E.D. and prince Zell."

**Mell**

Mell had crawled with inhuman swiftness through the narrow ventilation system. He knew he had to get out of these vents sooner or later, these people weren't stupid, they knew he was using these vents as a method of travel.

Another spout of worry hit him in the pit of his stomach suddenly. He was getting ready to scold Zell again for worrying about the soldier that had helped them.

Would you stop worrying? He's dead. There. Problem solved.

_Are you always such a heartless bitch?_

Um yes, why don't you try it some time, it will help you live longer. It's not like you've never acted like me anyway. I _exist _for a reason, you know?

_I don't want to talk about this right now, Mellenia. Just get us out of here like you said you would. _

Relax already. Take it easy. I'll get us out of here. This next part will go by so fast, and I'll have us out of here in no time.

Zell rolled his eyes, took a deep breath and said, _So where are you headed exactly?_

Mell smacked a cobweb out of his face and thought-spoke to Zell, If my hunch is correct, we should be reaching a the main shaft up here soon...

_Hunch?_

Yes. Hunch...

_Seriously...you're fucking gambling my life based off of a hunch...?_

I'm going to ignore you now...

He and Zell had reached a dead-end. Well, not necessarily. But this definitely signified the end of their vent-crawling for the time being.

Blocking Mell's path was a wide metal grate, with slits big enough for him to peer through. He peeked out of the horizontal slits to see that this room looked entirely different from the rest of the S.E.E.D. facility. Which was a good thing!

It was damp, kind of dirty, a little more dusty, and smelled a little bit like old metal...like rust. 

It was a huge copper colored chamber and dimly lit. He kicked the metal grate open with one harsh shove and dropped down on a thin ledge with ease. Immediately taking a look at his surroundings and ignoring Zell's slight panic from Mell's landing on such a thin platform, he saw multiple black cable cords running up and down vertically, pulling large cubed hunks of metal either upwards or downwards.

The Elevator Shaft...

_I get it! It's an elevator shaft!_ Zell blurted during Mell's observation process. 

Mell rolled his eyes, began walking towards the edge of the ledge he stood on and peered downward at the moving elevators and said, "this place is underground. I think if we climb straight through this room we can reach the surface."

_Sounds easy..._

"I told you it would be," the vampire replied cockily. "There's only one way to go then, and that's up."

_Well technically you can go down, too..._

…..Please...if you have nothing intelligent to think please don't think about anything...

_Whatever..._

Mell felt Zell gulp as he looked up at the seemingly never ending tunnel that reached for the heavens. Mell would have to use his amazing vampire-jumping ability. Zell had used it before, whenever he channeled Mell. Like the time he had bounded from mountain to mountain to get away from the persistent F.L.A.R.E. in the Esthar mountains and the time he jumped off of the balcony and helped Squall battle Seifer. Only...

Mell could feel his eyes beginning to sting with tears. Stop it! Mell demanded of Zell.

_Sorry it's my fault._

Worry about that later, I can't concentrate on my aim if you make me teary-eyed over something that has nothing to do with me.

_Okay just drop it and fucking get it over with!_ Zell's voice inside Mell's head had become raspy and angry. Later on the two of them would need to talk about this whole grief thing. Mell wouldn't be able to tolerate Zell's emotions as long as they were sharing a body.

"Well, here goes nothing," Mell said as he did a little stretch, he began to bend his knees and take off towards the nearest ledge to grab on to, which was about 600 yards away. "Aaannd!-"

"There you are!" an out of breath voice called behind him.

Mell had become alarmed and turned around ready to kill, but stopped when he saw who it was.

There stood Mr. Soldier-Man. 

"You're alive?" Mell asked in a flat tone. Zell mentally kicked him for being rude like that. "I-i mean you're alive!" Mell changed his voice so that it would sound a lot more gayer and Zell-like.

Mell watched as the soldier crawled out of a vent and began to climb down a ladder in order to get to him. "Yeah, I barely made it out of there alive. I managed to set off a few of my explosives-that should slow down those soldiers for a while. They're scrambling as we speak-we should get going."

Shit! This ruined things, Mell cursed in his mind directing his frustrations towards Zell. Why the fuck does he feel the need to tag along!?

_I want to know who he is, _Zell said calmly.

Maybe I should just kill him, he's slowing me down.

_No! We can use him, he knows his way around better than we do, and he can protect us._

I don't need a human to protect me the way you do.

_I don't need him to protect me! I meant like, we could use another gun in case we run into trouble. Just don't kill him...please..._

Whatever..."Lead the way," Mell said sweetly.

"Okay we have to climb these ladders," the Good Soldier explained as he gestured towards the massive skyward tunnel.

Mell felt himself pale as he looked up. He would have to climb..._that_...okay fuck this I'm silting his throat with my thumb nail.

_No! Trust me. Something is telling me to keep him in the dark about you being a vampire, and to just play it cool as a human for now._

Rrrrrrr! Mell scowled with anger and said, "Fine!" to both Zell and the soldier.

"After you," the nice soldier gestured to the ladder chivalrously.

**Laguna**

A few hours had passed since Laharl had led the other half of the Estharian fleet towards Galbadia University. Laguna absently watched his navigators going over more data, while his heavy bodyguard Ward sat silently in thought. Kiros did the same, the slim mocha colored man absently playing with his hair with one leg folded over the other eloquently.

This is what standby was like in battle situations... There was a lot of silence and meditation. Laguna was seconds away from radioing in, before he received word from the Delta-head Jessie through the communicator.

He was informed that the other half had completed one of the objectives and were about to regroup with this half of the fleet for recovery and an update on the reconnaissance.

The other half of the fleet hovered at cloud level, shrouded by the night time clouds. The Estharians had also put their ships in ghost mode, so their ships acted as chameleons and blended with their surroundings.

"I told you they would be fine," Kiros lightly reassured from his seat.

Laguna smirked at him gratefully. Kiros had excellent intuition when it came to worrying about things.

Moments later Jessie, Nida, and Laharl (who was followed by other soldiers) boarded the King's airship.

"How did the mission go?" he addressed Laharl immediately.

"Excellent, Your Highness. We got ambushed towards the end, but we overcame it and succeeded."

"And yourself? How are you?"

"Better than ever, Sir."

Liar. Laguna had known the boy since he was a child, he could see the boy trembling. Laharl liked to pretend to be professional and serious, but he knew his combat skills were never on par with Squall's, but all the same Laharl could hold his own...to a degree.

"We've completed one of the objectives," Jessie announced.

"You killed their Commander? Martine was eliminated?"

The King hadn't missed the sideways glance that the prince had given the newcomer Nida before answering, "Yes, Sir."

"And sir if I may," Jessie added. The King gave a nod of approval. We have found the location of Prince Zell. He is being held captive by S.E.E.D. In an off location about 40 miles west within the Galbadian ocean. I wrote down the exact coordinates."

"S.E.E.D." Laguna repeated with mysteriousness, as if trying to remember something vile and disgusting. "Let me see the coordinates, Jessie."

He handed a piece of paper to one of the navigators at the computer panel in the front of the airship. Without hesitation, the navigator immediately typed them in and a map of the area popped up. The flashing red lights all clumped together represented the Estharian fleet.

And just like Jessie said, not far away to the east of their location smack in the middle of the Galbadian ocean was a beeping green dot showing where S.E.E.D. was located.

"It's not just underground," Laguna said suddenly.

"It's below sea level," Nida finished with realization.

Everyone's attention turned to him, realizing by the sound of his voice that even though he was affiliated with these people, he had no clue of the where-a bouts of this advanced organization.

"Right under our noses the whole time," Ward said, his huge body standing up.

"So when do we attack?" Kiros asked clearly starting to becoming restless. Ward glanced at his battle partner in amusement.

"All in good time my friend," Laguna said. "First, I'd like to send a message." Nida, Laharl and Jessie raised their eyebrows in curiosity. "Can you hack their video screen?" he asked the other navigator.

**Xu**

The Asian girl stormed towards a soldier in the Medical Wing. "Report," she demanded impatiently.

"They are stable, ma'am."

"Thank you. That is all."

She stormed back towards the elevator and pressed the button that led to the control room, three other soldiers followed closely behind her. Unlike her superior, Commander Lien, she had no problem walking around with backup. There was no shame in it after all. Just standard protocol.

There. She did her job and "checked on" stupid Biggs and Wedge. They were "stable", according to the Medical Wing Guard, and that was all she needed to know. You couldn't catch her actually walking in their hospital room and talking to them (ewww...bums). She had better ways of wasting her life, like shopping online...for items to hold her foreign coins in.

Anyway now she could get back to the matter of interest and head for the Control Room, where she could assist in tracking Target Dincht.

She disembarked from the elevator with her group of soldiers following closely behind her and made her way towards the Control Room. As she walked in her soldiers stayed behind in the hallway guarding the door.

As she stepped in quietly, she could see Commander Lien, Doctor Odine and a few other soldiers had been waiting on her arrival.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting," she addressed the room apologetically.

"Don't worry, we only waited a minute," Lien said sweetly. Xu sighed in relief. "Xu, did you do what I asked?" Lien questioned.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Xu said confidently. She wasn't lying after all...she really did "check on" Biggs and Wedge.

"Good. Okay, now let's get to business," Commander Lien announced.

Suddenly one of the soldiers at the control panel said, "I'm receiving a strange transition. I've lost control of the server."

"We're being hacked," the other computer operator said worriedly. "I've been locked out!"

Xu watched as the screen jumbled and flickered. Eventually all visuals from the surveillance monitors had been lost completely. They were turned off by an outside force.

"Get these _damn_ monitors back on this instant!" Lien barked.

The technicians worked hastily in trying to fix the problem in fear that they may lose either their jobs or worse: their lives...

With a few more flickers, the screens were turned back on of their own accord. But all of the monitors showed individual images of what appeared to be the inside of an airship.

"You fixed the problem?" Odine asked with concern in his high pitched poodle voice.

"We didn't do this," the technician said.

Suddenly the image of a _very _handsome man appeared on the screens. He wore elegant robes and had long straight dark hair. He had gentle eyes that held laughter in them. He was "gorgeous," Xu felt the word escape her lips.

Catching the sideways glare Lien had given her, she snapped out of her daze and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"Ah, so you _can_ see me," the man's voice was sweet and warm like his smile. "My name is Laguna. I am the King of the Loire Region.

"Well this makes sense," Lien stated. "Why have you hacked our terminal?"

King Laguna's face became dark and twisted. "We have already destroyed your sub-category, F.L.A.R.E. The man in charge of that corporation has been taken care of. At this point you can consider us _somewha_t even when it comes to my son dying, but you _still_ have something that belongs to me."

Lien Neville Almasy raised her blonde brow in curiosity. "I know nothing about a prince being killed by any agents in our corporation."

"It is irrelevant," Laguna stated flatly, but Xu could see sadness flash behind his eyes.. "Hand over the prince, Zell Dincht if you want to avoid any more casualties"

Lien threw her head back and howled with laughter. "Let me see if I can get this all summed up," she was clearly entertained. "You, an army of vampires, went through all this trouble. For a twit?"

"Don't you dare call him that, you bitch!" A boy with violet hair appeared behind the king, angry in the face. He was wearing classy military attire and had his hair pulled back in a silky pony-tail.

The S.E.E.D. Members watched as he was restrained by a taller vampire with scars all over his body and taken out of the camera's view.

"I don't recommend insulting our prince," Laguna said coldly.

"Let's get a few things straight here," Lien said. "Your _prince_ (she spat the word) has caused us more trouble than necessary. He's more trouble than he is worth and has a few psychological _as well _as physical characteristics we don't feel are safe for the human community. It is our job to ensure safety to all HUMANS. Your prince may well in fact be human himself, but he is carrying a child of demon lineage inside him. We have determined that he must be put down immediately along with that unborn child." Before Laguna could respond, Lien proceeded to say something that would set the gears in motion for the next hailstorm of blood and violence to come. "If you want your precious prince back, come here and get him yourself. You'd better find him before we do, and be warned once you set foot here, you will all be obliterated. Trust my words, demon. We are in the business of killing the likes of you."

Laguna smiled and he didn't need to laugh, because his eyes seemed to do that for him, Xu noticed. He replied, "We accept your invitation, Miss. If you see our Prince, let him know his family is on their way."

Xu watched as Lien stared the man on the screens down. She knew that look. She was looking forward to this battle. Xu mentally prepared herself to round up their troops. Blood was about to be spilled.

"I fixed it!" One of the technicians said, suddenly. The screens finally went black erasing the image of the handsome vampire king, and showed numerous varied locations of the S.E.E.D. facility once again

The room was quiet for a while, Xu noticed that the shrimp doctor looked like he was about to barf.

"Xu, you know what to do?" Lien asked.

"Yes, ma'am. I can have this facility armed and prepped in ten minutes."

"Good," she approved. "take care of battle preparations. I will personally see to it that Zell Dincht is killed before his so-called 'family' arrives to retrieve him."

**Laharl**

Cheers erupted from the ships in the sky upon hearing another battle being declared. This time from the king himself and straight to the heart of the problem: S.E.E.D.

Laharl smiled and begin to struggle to stand (hoping no one noticed). Everyone in the King's ship quieted down as he spoke, "Great work, your highness. I will prepare another fleet at once."

The King's next response made Laharl feel like he had been impaled by long spears all over again. "Laharl, you will stay behind for Phase II."

He blinked delicately, his long violet eye-lashes fluttered twice looking like soft purple flower petals. "Um...I beg your pardon, Your Highness?"

"You have done well, my Prince. However, you are in no condition for battle and I need you alive for when we return to the Castle victorious. You still haven't had your official inauguration as a Prince, remember? What better way to celebrate it than by Zell's side at the throne where you both belong."

"What the fu-"

"I can Command the next Fleet," Jessie volunteered.

Nida glared at the tattoo-scarred man and grabbed Laharl's wrist firmly letting him know that he should refrain form resisting his orders. Laharl glared at Nida in return and snatched his wrist away. Who the fuck was he to tell him what to do? Who the FUCK was ANYONE to tell him to stay behind!?

He calmly collected himself as best he could and flipped his hair before pleading to the King sweetly, "You highness, I am well enough to fight. It would be an honor for you to let me bring my prince back home, and let me assist in vanquishing those who are at fault for the late Prince Squall's death."

The king narrowed his eyes, seeing straight through Laharl's young mind and his mind game. "That won't be necessary. You have done quite enough and I am grateful for you getting us this far. I will have a ship escort you back to the Castle. I _need _you to be alive Laharl. You must understand that."

The Truth: Laguna couldn't bear to say aloud or even think that he couldn't lose another "son". He should never have let Laharl come in the first place. It was selfish to let him lead an army, but at the same time it was selfish for holding him back. Not many people in this room would understand his decision to send Laharl back home, but none of them had failed their only childr like he had either...

Laharl didn't bother to hide his highly offended and pissed off expression. "You're sending me back home?"

"I heard what happened in Martine's office," Laguna replied softly.

Laharl's gaze shot to Jessie. "You fucking snitch!" he cursed.

"Not I, Sir," Jessie explained calmly as his eyes glanced toward Nida.

The room became quiet. You could barely hear Laharl say, "You?"

"Don't be mad," Nida requested. "I want you to be safe too and I only said something because I-"

The Asian boy's sentence was cut short after Laharl slapped him hard across the face-so hard that Nida flew sideways and hit the side of the airship leaving a dent in the wall. The angry violet haired warrior breathed in angry breaths before saying, "How dare you?" Nida's face throbbed in pain from the red hot mark Laharl had left on his soft cheek. He held his face in his hand in pain. Laharl walked around Nida, his hips twitching angrily and was about to jump out of the hovering airship before looking back at his "family" and saying "I should have known better..." then looking to Nida and saying, "I trusted you..." With a jump he sprung from the trunk of the ship and into the October night sky.

And then he was gone.

Kiros and Ward sat off to the side and hung their heads low waiting for the intense family drama to be over and dome with.

"Well that went well," Jessie said with a pleased look on his face as he smirked at Nida.

"Fuck you," Nida spat venomously.

**Mell**

It seemed like they had been climbing these rusted ladders for forever. If it weren't for Mell's amazing vampire strength, Zell's puny human body would have given up long ago. That was a good thing. Another good thing was that they hadn't been caught..._yet_... 

There was minimal conversation between Mell and the soldier who was helping him, only the sound of their hands gripping against metal and the soldier's boots pushing off of hard surfaces. Mell hadn't even felt the sting of pain at the bottom of his bare feet. 

"Let's stop for a second," Mell suggested having to put on the act of being a weak and helpless damsel (he could have bounded this whole elevator shaft on his own with a couple of strong vampire leaps). Keeping his weakness and vulnerability displayed was a constant factor if he wanted to stay protected and trusted by this man. This soldier obviously felt the need to protect _Zell_, but why?

The man craned his neck downwards and acknowledged the boys request. "Fine, we'll stop at this next ledge and rest for a bit." Mell noticed that taking a break wasn't in the man's agenda. It seemed as though he wanted to get himself out of this place as much as he wanted to get Mell out. When they reached the next ledge they took a seat next to each other on the ground in the identical archway that led to all of the individual floors.

The label next to the ledge read - 730. Mell rolled his eyes. "We've only traveled about 20 floors so far?" he asked trying his best to sound out of breath.

The soldier just grunted in response.

Mellenia could feel that Zell wanted answers from the burning curiosity in the pit of his stomach (and to be honest Mell did too. Just who was this guy?)

"So what's your name? I'm Zell," Mell introduced himself.

"I know who you are," the man replied flatly. "You wouldn't have been worth saving if I didn't know who you were."

"Is that so?"

The man had suddenly taken an interest in Zell's feet. The bottoms were raw, bruised, dirty and a little bloody. "Why didn't you say you were in pain? That could get infected..." the man remarked concerned.

Mell regarded his feet. To be honest he didn't even notice the burning pain until now. Besides, they had already started healing anyway..."I didn't notice, I just really want to get out of here. Don't worry about that..." Mell explained.

The man grabbed his gloved hand around Mell's ankle gently, surprising both Mell _and_ Zell (This guy was pretty bold). From out of his pocket he took out a medical pouch and sprayed the boy's foot down with antiseptic, then he began cleaning and bandaging it. The whole time Mell was just thinking how this was totally unnecessary and that he was a warrior;tough as nails. He would kill with no shoes on if he needed to, he'd been doing it for centuries...

"Thanks! Wow that feels so much better!" Mell exclaimed happily rubbing his supposedly sore foot. Mell stood up on his own two feet that now had bandages on them, and he and the man proceeded to climb up the next ladder.

"You still never told me your name."

He put his medical kit away, leaned against his wall fidgeting with his armor. "My name is-"

**!BANG! **

"Uhn!"

The man didn't tell his name. A torrent of bullets rained upward in Mell and the soldier's general direction and he had been hit in his helmet, making his head jerk and forcing out a grunt. The shothad not killed him since he was wearing a helmet. But that didn't mean he wasn't feeling the instant headache from the impact.

He immediately pushed a wide-eyed Mell up against the wall and crouched in a corner near the rusted walls of the elevator shaft, he took off his damaged helmet, revealing his face to Mell, who had become speechless...

_I knew it!_ Zell commented briefly while Mell was trying not to get shot.

"Irvine!" Mell tried to act surprised, which wasn't hard because he _was _surprised. "How did you-"

"There's no time to explain!" The young man shouted over the gun fire. "Here, go this way." Irvine led Mell against a ledge away from a crumbling wall getting hit by hot metal.

"Shoot them!" an awful shriek came down from below, making Mell's stomach twist in knots from Zell's fear. "Pull up and get closer, don't let them escape the shaft!"

"Fuck," Mell heard Irvine curse as he tried to balance on the ledge. "It's _her_."

Okay, Zell. That _woman _is here. Is this drastic enough for you?

_Do it, _Zell replied.

Without warning Mell grabbed onto Irvine, who only managed to let out a "What the" and jumped as high as he could while holding onto the man's armor for support.

When Irvine realized what was happening, he relaxed, gripped tightly onto Mell's forearms and let Mell lead the way. Bullets narrowly whizzed past them from underneath their feet.

When they landed on another ledge safely Irvine remarked, "Nice one, Zell."

"Look," Mell said, pointing at the number on the wall. Floor -690. they had jumped 30 floors upwards. 

"There they are!" another female voice rang through the vertical tunnel. Mell looked up and saw another familiar girl climbing down towards them. It was that Asian girl, Mell recognized from the Laboratory on floor -900.

She and her soldiers began firing their automatic guns downwards at them. Mell and Irvine jumped back against the wall narrowly missing getting shot from above.

"They're trying to trap us!" said Mell. "We need some type of distraction."

"Stand back!" Irvine commanded pulling out a strap of explosives

Mell did as he was told as soon as he recognized the weapons.

Irvine clicked the switch on the strap and tossed it over at the opposite wall and pushed Mell further back, away from bullets coming from above _and _from below, while also trying to avoid the incoming explosion.

**!KABOOM!**

The explosion was so strong that it rattled the entire elevator shaft and knocked an elevator cable out of alignment. A moving elevator had fallen off if its cable and sped downwards, crushing a few of that woman's soldiers and bending metal pipes as it landed all the way down. A cloud of gray dust and the sound of crushing steel rang through the shaft. She of course moved out of the way, and whoever survived quickly followed her as she pursued them.

"Those were my last explosives. Stay close to me!" Irvine commanded over the chaos. Mell grabbed Irvine's hand and ran with him into the hole they created. It led to a floor with its usual brightly lit atmosphere. Irvine passed Zell's gun to him, and took out his own gun cocking it and blasting off the heads of two approaching guards standing in front of a door.

The sound of approaching footsteps could be heard coming behind them. "Let's hide in here!"

Mell fired behind himself at advancing guards as he ran behind Irvine into the room labeled: Control Room.

The pair entered a room filled with men sitting at a computer panel that stretched along the entire wall of the room. Soldiers turned their attention at the intruders who just entered the door questioningly.

But Irvine didn't waste any time. Without hesitation, he raised his hand-gun and fired caps off at their chests, heads, and hearts. After blood gushed out of wherever they were shot, they all slumped over in their chairs dead or fell on the ground.

Mell admired him silently from his position slightly on his side before turning around and locking themselves inside the room with these dead men. He was trying to buy some time.

Irvine, who had just killed five armed guards in less than ten seconds, advanced on the computers with curiosity.

"What are you doing?" Mell asked in his most frantic Zell-voice. "We don't have time to play on the computers, Irvine!We have to think of a new plan!"

Putting the boy's bitching aside for now, Irvine rolled a dead soldier to the side. He sat lifeless with his head lolled to the left in his little computer chair. Irvine began keying commands into the system.

"Irvine are you listening!?" Mellenia continued to shout.

He's so dumb sometimes!

…...Zell remained silent.

It's good to know somethings never changed, Irvine thought as he silently focused on pressing more keys on the desktop. Zell was still somewhat helpless and needed rescue, which is what Irvine thrived upon.

"Remember when you said, you wished that we had a distraction?" He hadn't heard a response behind him, but he continued anyway. "Well I think I found it. This facility is in store for a _huge_ distraction." With one final keystroke, the computer Beeped three times and read across the screen: Power Override.

More sounds continued: One was the banging on the door behind Zell (who jumped and spun around in fear and backed away clinging to a stone faced Irvine), The other sound was like a swan song. One by one the sound of locks could be heard in the distance, clicking and unlocking. Mell glanced at the surveillance cameras and watched as test subjects stepped out of their cells and walked around, looking in confusion in their two piece hospital gowns.

**Comfort**

Walking around in this new uniform was not only different but it was actually quite comfortable as well. After sneaking around the facility for a while she began to realize the true colors of her shoes: They hurt like hell. But they seemed to keep her balanced in a way. If she were to fall down stairs she felt like she would land on her feet.

The material of her body suit hugged her and conformed to her every curve. And when she moved it was like it moved with her. Leave it to these people to build the perfect material for a combat suit. She could almost guarantee that the only reason they made it so flexible and comfortable was so that it would improve fighting ability for whoever wore it.

And finally, her wrist buzzed dangerously. The new toy she found had latched itself onto her in a way that Comfort felt was wrong, yet right at the same time. She felt stronger, faster, more alert and braver. She had become braver...

Floor -500 (Men)

Okay, Russel. Where are you? Comfort thought frantically as she crept around a corner of a stairwell and setting a heeled foot on floor -500.

She had decided it would be best to rescue her friends floor by floor going downwards. Nuke was on floor -200, Russel on -500, and Zell was way at the bottom with the baddest of the baddest: Floor 750.

You're probably thinking that the girl skipped Nuke, because -200 comes before -500, but Comfort is a very smart girl. It wouldn't be easy breaking Nuke out, taking him with her to get Russel, getting caught and trying to protect herself and him from soldiers and still trying to get rescue Zell. They would both be killed instantly.

Once again she was thinking of Nuke as though his life had equal or _more_ value. Nuke, Zell. Just hold on a little bit longer. I'm coming for both of you!

This was a time where the largeness of the floors worked against her instead of in her favor. She was able to hide easier because of the width of the floors, but now that she was on the floor that she _needed_ to be on, she would of course have to begin searching for Russel, which meant she'd have to check _every_ door that led to a cell. And the bad part is that she didn't have a clue where to start. There were two directions: Leftand right. And probably around 100 cells on each side.

**!SHIT!** She cursed.

Naturally going left first, she began banging on doors and calling Russel's name.

She had checked 14 rooms already and none of the responses seemed to recognize Comfort's voice, or sound like him, OR respond to the name Russel. Her confidence was about to take another HUGE Plummet, until the white hallways were filled with hopeful noise.

Clicks echoed around her and doors began to fly open. Her eyes shimmered with surprise and joy. The cells were being unlocked!

Male subjects beganstepping out. Some of them stuck their heads out first wondering what the hell was going on, though. Yes! The test subjects were being freed somehow. And to make things even better, she could find Russel easier this way!

Her feelings of hope and joy were immediately ripped away as soon as they had come. Out of nowhere footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. S.E.E.D. Soldiers!

"We have orders to kill them all! Don't let them escape!" she heard one of them say.

Then came the sound of a cocking gun.

"Everyone get back in your rooms!" Comfort yelled down the hall at the innocent people.

This was not going to end like this for these people! Suddenly, Comfort's wrist buzzed slightly. She barely noticed the green glow that came from the thick electronic. Without even thinking or feeling fear, Comfort _rushed _down the hall straight towards the soldiers with enhanced speed.

"She's an intruder disguised as a commander! Fire!"

But before they could, she rushed into a guy, one hand deflecting his gun at an upward angle. He shot a round of bullets into the ceiling barely missing hitting one of those bright ass lights. Comfort gripped his wrist that still held the gun and focused on bending it in a way that would cause it to break.

With a **SNAP! **it did and the man howled in pain and dropped his gun with a clatter to the ground, making sure she framed her small body in front of his so that she wouldn't be shot by his comrades, she retracted her left arm back and broke the man's jaw with the hardest part of her open palm. The man went limp with pain and his screams became muffled by his own new mouth shape.

She whirled him around as though he were her new dance partner and used him rightly as a shield against her remaining enemies.

They all were so stupid, she thought darkly. They fired their rounds into their own friend mercilessly out of desperation to save their own lives and complete their own missions. Why were they even bothering following these orders?

When she was in close enough range she shoved her newly Swiss cheesed dance partner straight into another soldier knocking him off balance, she somersaulted into the air and watched from her soaring angle as the man she had been holding rolled limply off of the soldier he was thrown against. As she twisted her body through the air, she dodged bullets that past by her. She could feel the heat of the hot metal passing by her dimples. Not good enough...not nearly good enough, she thought...

The man who had been hit by the human shield fumbled around and tried too regain his balance, but Comfort grabbed either side of his crown with her tiny gloved hands an flicked her wrists so fast, you wouldn't have been able to see it with out an HD slow-motion camera. The soldier's neck snapped with a snapping twist sound and her heeled feet landed with a stomp. She planted her semi-crouched body with her back facing the last two remaining soldiers. She heard empty clicks behind her.

"Out a' bullet's?" she asked with genuine curiosity. "Tragic."

She threw her body forward and death-blowed one of them in the chest with the flattest part of her bare hand, smashing his ribs. She killed him instantly...

The other had reloaded just in time! Or so he thought...the last thing he remembered seeing was a skinny elbow headed straight between his eyes and the last thing he heard was a loud smashing noise. Comfort had crushed his nose so hard, that the veins leading up to the man's brain were cut off. If he by some miracle lived after that blow, then he would surely be brain damaged. Somehow Comfort had known exactly where the most sensitive parts of the human body were.

When her adrenaline finally lowered she looked at her surroundings, all of them on the floor...dead. Had she killed these men? They never stood a chance against her and she knew it! Where did she learn to fight like that and why didn't she just disarm them if she knew she could beat them so easily!? She demanded of herself. But she had no answers or any time to make up excuses.

Before Comfort knew it she was surrounded by men. At first she expected the worse: For them to hate her and call her a killer. But instead, they were applauding and cheering for her endlessly.

Comfort stood there. Just staring at all of their smiling faces filled with gratitude and gratefulness. After a moment of trying to digest the fact that she had just killed four men with her bare hands, she pretended to appreciate the applause.

"Has anyone seen my friend Russel?" she asked suddenly. The crowd became silent at the question. Did any of these prisoners even know each other?

Emerging from the crowd was a man with dark hair, a defined body and toned arms. His spiky jet black hair and he easy look of cockiness across his grin were the first thing Comfort recognized. "Comfort? Well shit, dude. You're alive-why are you wearing that woman's cat woman costume?"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes and laugh.

**Irvine Mell and Zell**

"Did you just do what I think you just did?"

"Release all the prisoners in the facility? Yeah I did, just wait for it..."

"Wait for what?" Mell asked over the bullets that were slamming against the door of the control room. The soldiers were doing everything in their power to break down that door.

"Break that door down!" Mell could hear that woman's voice shouting through the solid metal door. "Get in there and get rid of them!"

_We're trapped! _Zell began to panic.

Mell unsheathed his claws and readied himself to slaughter everyone. Irvine readied his gun, the door was close to breaking soon.

"Nothing is happening," Mell said calmly.

"Shit!" Irvine cursed.

And suddenly the gunfire ceased. "How did they get out?" that blond woman shrieked. Angry yells erupted from the hall followed by more gunfire and yells of pain. "Kill them! Kill them all!" She shrieked.

_NO! _Zell said sadly.

Sadness overtook Mell, making him feel immense guilt. Zell, don't feel bad. It's either them or us. We gotta go!

"Let's go!" Irvine commanded, interrupting the internal conflict. Mell followed him, both of the boys' guns were at the ready as Irvine unlocked the door and barged through into the white hallway.

Mell could feel Zell momentarily wonder again where Irvine had come from all of a sudden, but quickly changed his focus to shooting a soldier square in the middle of his shoulder blades.

Irvine fired a couple of head shots at a few distracted soldiers. Why were they so distracted? The answer had become obvious very soon. Test subjects had begun fighting against soldiers. They were getting gunned down by the second, but still putting up a good fight. A few of them had even killed a few soldiers by jumping them and beating them brutally to the ground.

"Leave no survivors!" Mell turned to see _her _commanding her soldiers to keep fighting the prisoners. She hadn't noticed Irvine and Mell yet, because she was too busy shooting prisoners with her machine gun.

_She has to be stopped,_ said Zell..

No! WE need to get out of here, Mell argued.

Everything was becoming overwhelming. Innocent people were dying. Comfort, Nuke and Russel might have already been killed, and it looked like they were never getting out of here.

"Don't stop fighting!" a voice yelled over the havoc. Mell had stopped shooting to see who had spoke those words. Irvine was busy exchanging fire with that Asian girl. She was blasting at him dauntlessly.

_Comfor_t_! She's alive. _Mell could feel Zell smile.

This had lifted Mell's spirits too. Somehow to know that the girl was alive even though he really didn't care about humans, made him feel more at ease. Probably because he knew it would make Zell not miserable, which meant MELL could stay not miserable too.

Both Mell and Zell were surprised at what they were seeing: Comfort was fighting alongside the prisoners, punching, kicking, flipping and killing without any help from a gun.

_What?_

She had killed five soldiers by now successfully lowering the enemy numbers, Mell noticed that that evil woman (whose outfit was now identical to Comfort's) had begun to feel overwhelmed by test subjects and told her Asian subordinate to retreat with her.

The young girl nodded in approval and ceased her firing with Irvine and ran after her her superior with a few soldiers in tow. Mell shot a few more soldiers who weren't looking and saved a couple of the test subjects' lives. Mell took his gun and fired at her and the girl as they both ran down the hall. They dodged the bullets easily running in a not-so-zigzag motion and breaking swiftly around the corner.

"Follow her!" Irvine yelled as he shot the last two remaining soldiers.

"What?" Mell asked confused.

"She knows the way out and she's getting away! Follow her! We'll stay here and finish this!" Irvine called as he jumped out of the way of a few incoming bullets and fired back killing another soldier.

Mell paused for a moment.

_Don't worry about him! He can take care of himself. Follow her!_

I was just waiting on you to give me the option, Mell said in a satisfied tone.

Without anymore hesitation, he broke into a sprint after the two women. Faster than any human could run, he heard their voices getting closer down the hall.

"Things have gotten out of control. How did the prisoners get out!?" he heard the Asian girl's young voice say over the clicking of her knee-hi boots.

"Nevermind that for now, Xu. The troops are ready, correct?" So the younger girl's name was Xu...

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. Put the facility into 'Lift' Mode."

"Good thinking Ma'am! I will activate the code as soon as we're in the elevator."

Finally close enough to make out a visual of the two woman running side by side, Mell lifted his automatic weapon and fired with precision at their running forms.

As soon as they heard gun fire, they broke apart and created distance between themselves, Xu pulled out her gun and began firing in return at Mell.

The blonde woman did the same, crouching ahead of her comrade. "Xu, get in the elevator and put in the commands to 'Lift', and head straight to the top! Command the fleet against the incoming attack!" she barked her orders rapidly as she exchanged fire with Mell. "I will join you shortly after I take care of _this monster_."

"Yes, Ma'am," Xu responded ceasing her firing and boarding the elevator, not daring to argue against her superior. She had complete faith in the blond woman it seemed.

Mell watched the elevator doors close as he felt his last bullet leave the chamber of his gun. As he listened closely, he could hear the clicking of his enemy's empty chamber down the hall from himself as well. He and her both threw their weapons to the ground in frustration with loud clatters. He would have to kill her the old school way. Things would be easier once she was dead, Mell surmised as he unsheathed his claws and prepared himself to rip her limb from limb.

I'm going to kill her Zell, quickly before any of your friends see, Mell told his other half. He felt a growing sense of nerves form in his stomach in response.

However, before he could sprint towards her and kill her without mercy-

"ZELL!" Comfort called from behind him.

**Comfort**

Irvine, Comfort and Russel stormed around the corner and into the long hallway that Zell and Lien were in. She looked like she would've killed Zell for sure if the three of them hadn't shown up when they did.

"Zell, are you okay?" Comfort asked walking towards him her heels clicking against the hard floor.

He hesitated before saying, "I'm fine! What about you-what the hell are you wearing?" Zell asked frowning at Comfort's new ensemble.

"I know. I know. Nevermind that for now I'll explain later. You guys, listen. That woman-_her_!" Comfort said nodding towards the evil blonde standing in front of the elevator.

"She's evil and needs to be stopped-we know." Irvine interrupted.

"But you guys have to know this!" Comfort pleaded.

"Can we please get out of here first, this place is scaring me!" Zell whined a little more than his usual whine, Comfort noticed. Russel stood off to the side not taking his eyes off of Lien amongst the banter.

"NO!" Comfort shouted in the hall finally commanding the boys' attention. "Listen to me! It's important. That woman is-"

"Standing right here," a cold girly voice called from down the hall. "Comfort. Zell. Russel. And of course an unexpected surprise: F.L.A.R.E. Agent Irvine Kinneas," she named them off one by one as though they were being called for elementary attendance. "Now that you're together I can finish you all at once. You are all disgusting and do not deserve to live!" she sounded disgusted by all of them.

"Ouch...well shit," Russel commented from the side. "A little harsh, isn't she?" he asked clearly offended.

Everyone ignored him and focused on Comfort as she stepped forward and said, "We don't get the liberty of decidin' who lives an' dies. But, we _know _we ain't the disgustin' ones...You are."

"And we'll stop you no matter what it takes," Irvine said coolly. Without any type of warning, Irvine blasted at her while Zell closed his eyes and had his hands pressed over his ears and shivered in fear.

Lien raised her arm in front of her so that the gadget on her wrist was visible. On the side of it a green translucent shield appeared in front of her, protecting her whole body. Irvine's gun fired until her shield ate all of his bullet's. He fired at her until his clip was empty. "Shit," he muttered. Lien smirked, evilly.

Comfort's beautiful eyes shimmered with realization.

"Get out o' here," she said suddenly to the three the men.

"What?" Russel asked.

"Just keep going! Hurry!" Comfort shot. "You gotta find another elevator and get outta here while the facility is in a state o' chaos."

"I am _not _leaving you here by yourself with _her!" _Irvine said strongly.

"And neither am I!" Russel said with the same strength. The boys looked at each other with fire in their eyes, rekindling a shadow of their previous rivalry but at the same time a level of respect for one another.

"Guys don' worry bout me. Just get Zell out of here, I'll catch up layta," Comfort looked so confident that Zell remained quiet and looked at Irvine and Russel for their reactions.

"Fine," Irvine said. "Let's go, guys."

"If you get hurt I'm gonna kick your little ass, Miss," Russel said seriously.

"Bro, I got dis," she said with a smile. "Get out o' here. Or Imma kick _yo _ass. And don't forget what I said about Nuke."

"I got it."

Zell hugged Comfort without warning, but as soon as she felt him against her, she squeezed back reassuringly.

The two older men ran down the hall away from Comfort and Lien. Zell looked back at Comfort one last time before she was completely out of view.

**Comfort**

"That would have been so much more entertaining to watch if you all weren't working to protect that demon-birthing whore," Lien said.

"Dat's yo problem...not mine..."

"So what's with the outfit?" Lien asked teasingly switching topics. "Playing the role of Little-Miss-Tough-Black-Girl?"

Comfort only grinned at the retort. "As always, Miss-Bitchy-White-Woman-With-The-Cheap-Boob-Job."

Lien had become genuinely offended, much to Comfort's delight. "I'll have you know that these are one hundred-percent real, you little rat!"

"Right. I'll pretend dat's not a surgical scar underneath yo tits den. Oh and by the way, I know who you are..."

Lien flipped her hair and said coolly, "The woman who is going to kill you? I thought you were a smart girl-honey we established that already."

"I know bout your family. I know your name is Lien Almasy."

Lien's eyes slit dangerously. "I knew someone was in my room. I guess I underestimated you all. You've definitely caused the most damage that I've ever seen done in this building," Lien's eyes lowered to Comfort's wrist. "Nice jewelry, where'd you get it?"

"Just browsed through your little collection that's all. You got amazin' taste."

Lien smirked, "I hope you know what you're doing, little girl."

Comfort laughed and said, "Sister," she put emphasis on the word. "You ain't seen nothing yet."

"Fuck you!" Lien screamed. Suddenly she was running along the wall towards Comfort, her heels clicking against the hard surface. Comfort immediately did the same thing and simultaneously the two women leaped off of their opposite walls and drop kicked each other in the abdominals. They clattered to the white floor ungracefully and immediately scrambling to rise.

Comfort hopped up a little faster than Lien and aimed a heeled foot straight to the blonde woman's face, it was easily knocked away by Lien's hand, and she swung her best left hook right into Comfort's ribs.

"Uhhn!" Comfort tried not to scream too loudly even though getting hit by the woman really did hurt. Immediately she punched Lien right in the face and then attempted to once more in the arm, but Lien blocked it and put the black girl's arm in a painful grappling vice. "Prepare to be beaten to death!" Lien threatened.

Comfort was trapped. Right where Lien wanted her, the blonde woman performed a combo on her captive with just the left side of her curved body. Comfort blocked as many of the painful blows with just one free arm as she could, but the pain from the woman's foot and arms was becoming unbearable.

She had to get out of this grapple. Bringing her body too close to her opponent, Comfort closed the gap between herself and Lien. It was no longer easy for the white woman to strike her and the Comfort was simply too close to keep up the grapple. But before Lien could distance herself, Comfort had maneuvered her body so that she was behind Neville and choked her out from the back with her bony forearm.

She struggled to get free, while Comfort grinned in her earlobe. "I've got you!" she said into her ear. And with that Comfort took her knee and slammed the thickest part of her thigh into Lien's waist as many times as she could and as hard as she could.

"Uhhn! Raah! Ack!" Lien yelped strongly.

Comfort had gained the upper hand and with every successful blow, she said a word to emphasize the attack. "Leave. My friends. Alone. You. Stupid. BITCH!" the last word was a finishing move that had earned the sound of a few cracks as Comfort dropped Lien's body to the ground.

The woman was on all fours holding her side and coughing in pain. Now was a good time to catch up with Zell and Irvine and reach the top. She had to run quickly before Lien gained her power back.

As if God was telling her she hadn't fought hard enough the first time, she heard that cold bitchy voice scream, "Round two!" Comfort's ankle was grabbed by skinny cruel fingers. Before she could turn around and "curve-stomp" this bitch, Lien somersaulted off of her position on all fours (which seriously took some upper-body strength) and slammed the heel of her foot down the top of Comfort's skull.

She landed on her high heels gracefully, while Comfort barely missed biting her tongue off and fell on the ground face first. Lien was WAY stronger than she had ever anticipated. A move like that probably could have killed Comfort or at least paralyzed her, but for some reason all she was feeling now was an intense throbbing in her head. "Don't wear that thing unless you're prepared to take LOTS of lives," Lien lectured the stunned girl slightly out of breath.

Lien attempted to murder the girl by raising her leg at a 90 degree angle and impaling the girl's skull on her sharp stiletto, but through Comfort's woozy blurring vision she could see the attack coming somewhat clearly. She rolled her body out of the way and threw a kick from her ground position staggering Lien back.

Comfort took the opportunity to get up off of the floor (for some reason she knew she would be killed for sure if she stayed on the ground any longer) and continued to fight this woman head on.

They confronted each other without fear and slammed their fists into each others sold, yet feminine bodies. The only thing that could be heard were their heels clicking around in attempts to dodge attacks and the occasional feminine grunt when one of the girls took a blow.

Comfort gave Lien a right hook making her head snap violently, Lien returned a kick right to Comfort's gut making her double over in pain, but Comfort fought through it and swept the floor with her long flexible leg, knocking Lien off of her feet and onto the ground.

_I have to kill her, _Comfort thought finally.

With a quick maneuver, she rolled on top of Lien and straddled her. Wrapping her gloved fingers around the blonde woman's neck, she squeezed hard not daring to let go, until of course, she felt long legs wrap around her chest from behind her, and prying her off of the woman.

Lien bent her knees and prepared to slam her sharp heels into Comfort's breasts. Before she could though, Comfort jumped back creating a huge gap for herself and the woman on the ground.

Comfort held stood her ground in her fighting stance as she watched Lien raise by just throwing her legs upward and landing on her feet. Round 3. Both girls ran towards each other definitely deciding to end this little game of tit-for-tat, but suddenly they were both knocked off balance when the whole building began to rumble.

Comfort and Lien fell on the ground and struggled to get up, but the vibrations were too strong. "What the hell is goin' on?" Comfort asked.

Lien smirked evilly. "We're 'lifting'," she explained. With a flash the woman raised up off of her feet and grabbed onto a wall for support. "You're better than I thought. But, you still need work. I look forward to doing this again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an army of vampires to kill," before she ran off she blew a kiss and said, "See you soon...Comfort!"

Comfort struggled to stand in the hallway all by herself. 'Lifting'? What did that mean? Vampires? Did that mean...Esthar?

**Loire Army**

"Sir! I can see something coming out of the water in the distance!" Jessie announced.

Laguna squinted his eyes. They were so close, that he didn't need binoculars. He could see it clearly. At first glance it looked like a submarine was coming out of the ocean, but then the object emerging from the dark blue water never stopped growing.

When it finally stopped, it stood proudly several miles in the sky. It was like it was touching the clouds it was taller than any of the buildings in Deiling, Nida noticed.

"Attack at 3 miles in range," Jessie commanded over the radio.

"Yes, sir!" all pilots responded.

All of the Loire vampires flew in formation again towards their enemy, their glowing red lights were like a flying nightmare. They were prepared to rescue their prince at any cost. Nida watched in admiration at the bond that they all had with each other. Laharl would have loved to see this, Nida thought feeling shame within' himself.

The entire fleet had flown within range quickly and fired while still moving towards their target. Their rockets slammed into the sides of the rising building barely crumbling it. Dust fell off of it and debris fell into the ocean with insignificant splashes.

"Our weapons have minimal effect on their exterior," Jessie said into the radio. "All troops prepare to drop for battle and infiltration-pilots stay on standby for areal support."

Nida walked behind Jessie, Laguna, and Kiros and Ward, preparing to once again drop out of the ship and into battle. Here we go again, Nida thought.

The wind hit his short straight locks as he jumped down from the airship, making his facial muscles pull back towards his ears. The smell of salt water filled his senses so much that he could taste it, and the reflection of the moon in the water pumped his adrenaline as he prepared to throw his whip and catch himself from crushing his body against the hard surface of the rooftop of the S.E.E.D. Building.

Kiros and Ward had jumped off and stayed close together as they descended down towards the building at rapid speeds. Kiros grabbed onto his partner's clothing so that his slim body wouldn't be blown away by any wind. When it looked like Ward's heavy build wouldn't land on the platform, Kiros gave his weight a shift and steered the large man so that he would slam feet first right into a crowd of awaiting soldiers.

With a **CRASH! **Ward's body slammed into the surface, making soldier's fly in every direction from the impact. Before they could either hit the ground, or fall into the ocean though, Kiros dismounted his slim body from off of Ward's back and with quick precision moved around and sliced their heads off while they were still in mid-fall with one of his impossibly flat blades.

Laguna landed on the surface and rolled, dodging enemy fire. He pulled out his Gatling-gun and ran with the heavy object as he unloaded a barrage of bullets at multiple crowds. They all flailed their arms when they were shot and hit the ground, not daring to get up.

When his area was clear the king noticed Nida and Jessie, along with other vampire soldiers fighting S.E.E.D. Soldiers who were being commanded by an young female Asian soldier, but no sign of Zell..._yet..._

S.E.E.D. Soldiers had begun aiming explosive firearms towards the sky and taking out the Loire's air force. One after another the ships began to fall. Flaming hunks of metal crashing into the side of the S.E.E.D building and into the deep blue water.

"Sir look out!" Laguna heard Kiros call.

An airship Flew towards him and fired a round of bullets. With his swift vampire speed, the king threw his heavy gun to the ground (he would not be able to run as fast with it if he held on to it) and tried his best to outrun the line of hot metal as fast as he could, but they were catching up with him and soon the S.E.E.D. airship would surely hit him.

Kiros was the only one who would be fast enough to dismantle the ship, but there was no need. Out of no where a familiar ship came from the sky and shot the S.E.E.D ship down. It had silver trim on it with the words "The Blood Wing" written on the side.

That was Laharl's ship, Nida thought as he watched it circle over the massive tower they were battling upon.

Laguna quickly moved out of they way of the S.E.E.D. ship that had lost control and watched as it slammed into the ground exploding with a loud crash.

As a group of soldiers advanced on the king, Laguna took out a weapon he was more proficient with: His Gunblade, The Overlord.

He sliced through them in two seconds and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blond hair whizzing by. There he was! Laguna punched a wet hole straight through a soldiers ribcage and quickly pulled his fist out. He stepped over his body, not bothering to watch him fall to the ground and struggle to breathe as he choked on the hole in his chest

Laguna sheathed his gunblade made for fencing and ran towards Zell, who was running by with a man with dark hair, a child and (this was a nice treat) what Laguna recognized as Irvine Kinneas, the man partly responsible for his only son's death. Laguna's eyes filled with rage, but Zell was more important than Irvine. He needed to get him to safety at all costs.

**Irvine**

The four boys jumped off of the elevator and were greeted by the chaos at the top of the building. They had finally reached the top level and what do you know? That rumbling they had heard earlier was the facility lifting itself like a mountain out of the ocean.

Irvine, Zell, Russel and small Nuke ran across the blood filled platform towards unoccupied S.E.E.D. helicopters.

"We have to get on one of these," Irvine said pointing to a S.E.E.D. airship that was parked on the side with no pilot.

"I'm not getting in that," Russel argued. "Our home is at Loire castle. Me and Nuke are going back with the vampires."

"Do what you have to do!" Irvine told the man.

Russel looked at Zell, "You coming, your highness?"

**Laguna**

Only a few feet away from the ledge, Ward jumped into a screeching halt and grabbed Kiros' ankle. Swinging him as hard as he could he launched the slim mocha-colored man head-on to wards a firing chopper.

Bullets passed by his wavy jet black hair as Kiros unsheathed his flat blade that was attached to his forearm.

Laguna grabbed a soldier by the head and snapped his neck. After he watched the human fall the ground he saw a hot flash slice through the metal chopper. It was as though time froze as Laguna waited for it to fall apart and drop out of the sky.

But given one second it did so much more than that. Without warning the airship exploded violently and clearly showed the divide in the object that Kiros had left. Speaking of Kiros, Laguna looked for his slim bodyguard amongst the great balls of fire. The man was no where in sight, but somehow Laguna knew that Ward had thrown the man hard enough so that he would be able to slice straight through it and land to safety.

The shock from the explosion lightly shook the large plateau. The king continued slicing soldiers down, and fighting towards Zell. He was almost there! A vampire airship had fallen out of the sky and slammed into the ocean with a hard crushing splash, breaking the metal into new shapes.

A S.E.E.D. Ship had dropped as well slamming into the roof-top of the facility's edge,. The metal pieces that broke off shook and skidded dangerously into people, ripping their bodies in half. They were running out of time!

"Delta, I see the prince. I'm going in for recovery," Laguna said into his communicator.

**Xu**

"Get rid of that airship!" she commanded. "Use the RPG!"

"Yes, Ma'am." a soldier next to her tool out his rocket launcher and aimed it at the trouble some flier that was taking out a majority of the S.E.E.D fleet. It needed to be taken care of if they were going to have any chance at survival.

The title: "Blood Wing" was written on the side of it. The soldier fired the rocket and watched as it soared towards the ship. However as soon as he fired that rocket he sealed his own fate; he was sliced in half by a fast moving black cord.

Xu narrowed her eyes at the angry looking Asian man across from her. She opened fire on him, before he had a chance to swing his whip at her.

**Laharl**

He hadn't noticed in time to evade the rocket. Jumping out of his own ship was his only chance of survival, and so he did-Just in time to avoid getting blown up. The vibration of the explosion hit him as he descended downwards towards the platform. He took out his crossbow and fired a group shot before he hit the ground, impaling a large group of soldiers trying their best to subdue the large tank: Ward.

When he hit the ground he rolled and briefly flicked his long violet pony tail out of his face. He could see Zell getting on board an airship with-

No. This was too good to be true. Irvine Kinneas, you are DEAD!

He aimed his crossbow straight at the human man who had killed his best friend. His finger was on the trigger and he made sure he had a direct hit before he pulled. But before he could fire, something slammed into his side as he flew over and hit the ground scraping his crossbow and jamming it.

He looked up to see a blond woman in a tight black and yellow body suit advancing on him. The woman from the video. His already aching body was now in even more pain. He hadn't fully recovered from his previous battle.

Laharl angrily got up and exchanged blows with her. She was strong, and when he punched her hard enough he saw something shiny leave from between her bosom. As if in slow motion, he saw it flying between him and her. The item that had once bound Zell to Squall together. The wedding ring!

Forgetting, about fighting her, he got distracted and caught it swiftly in his strong grip, which gave her the perfect opportunity to slam the palm of her hand into his chest sending him flying back. Already weak from previous events, he flew back and landed harshly on the ground from the blow, still gripping the jewelry firmly in his pale hand.

**Nida**

Without thinking Nida ran towards Laharl. Stupid! What the hell was he thinking coming here!? Nida dodged the Asian girl's shots until he was out of her firing range, he saw that woman was about to kill Laharl so as he ran towards her, he took out his whip and readied himself to slice her in half.

She had seen him coming from a mile away. She raised her arm and shot a flash of green hot energy straight into his chest. He felt like he had been hit with a flame thrower and the blast was so strong that he had been tossed off of the edge of the building.

He was falling, falling, falling. No chance of catching himself, he didn't even know where his whip was. He could have sworn he heard Laharl's beautiful voice screaming his name over the sun that was finally slowly rising before his body smacked into the cold embrace of the sea.

**Mell**

Mell could hear the protests coming from Zell the whole time.

_I can't go with him! The vampires need us! _

It's not your problem anymore, Mell shot back firmly. We had a _deal _remember! If I got you out of here, you remember what I wanted right? Mell could feel Zell pull back in defeat, making him smirk in triumph as he sat in the co-pilot seat of the helicopter.

"Zell!" that voice was strong and familiar.

He could see King Laguna sprinting towards him with amazing vampire speed. Without warning, he tore the door off of the helicopter, decapitated a nearby soldier with it (by accident), and grabbed Mell by the wrist.

Mell was pulled out of the helicopter away from a stark faced Irvine. "No!" the cowboy shouted pulling out his gun.

King Laguna whipped his head around in shock, not because of Irvine, but because of Mell. He _knew _something wasn't the same with the boy anymore. He could feel it. The demon within Zell. And, no, it was _not _his unborn child. It was something else, something mature and deadly.

"Zell?" Laguna began. Mell's expression changed. He smiled a smile that the king had never seen Zell smile. "You're..."

Before he could finish, wings tore between the two vampires and Mell was grabbed by the wrist. Laguna had been knocked over and Irvine looked up to the sky in shock. The next thing he knew, he was looking down at all of the chaos. Blood, violence, explosions everywhere and shooting non-stop.

The battle scene became smaller and smaller, as Mell's dangling body was lifted higher and higher. He could feel a strong hand holding him tightly, and suddenly swing him onto the back of a horse-like beast. The strong scent of another man filled Mell's senses, arousing him sexually.

Who was this man? Lifting his head to see who was the one flying this marvelous beast, he felt Zell shudder.

_No! _Zell cried filling Mell with feelings of anger. _Seifer!_

**TBC**

**A/N: I know I know I know! Super mega long. But as you can see I had a lot to cover here. Well there you go! A special long update. Consider this you guys' Christmas present since you've all been so wonderful.**

**I'd like to make an announcement also! I will be re-writing all of the previous chapters because, well they need taken care of. My writing has improved, so they should match my writing now I feel. Don't worry nothing will change plot wise, I'll basically just be doing sentence reconstruction and grammar corrections. :) Well Have a Happy Holidays everyone! I will surely see all of you in the New Year!**

**XOXOXOXOXO**


	27. Lost Boys

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_**lawchan**_

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, IrvinexZell + other minor pairings**

**A/N: I guess the first thing I should do is apologize for the extreme lateness of this chapter.**

**1. Had a wonderful eye-opening vacation in New York. Really opened my eyes to a lot of new things. **

**I also was busy preparing for my cosplay group's performance at Ohayocon. We won Best in Show by the way XDDD.**

**Oh and January 31 was my birthday. Happy B-day to me!Ahem anyway now that I am back I can focus on presenting this chapter of Dangerous Game! **

**So yes I was very busy with life things as with any reason to delay a chapter but they were actually legit reasons so try not to hate me too much lol.**

**I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Any encounters with hot vampires at all? No? Shame...in fact Tragic.**

**Lots of Almasy in this chapter everyone! And I'm lovin' every bit of it. FINALLY!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 27: Lost Boys**

**Selphie and Fujin**

It was nearing the wee hours of the night and steadily becoming later and later nearing four o' clock in the morning. The club was packed as usual, of course. It's Incubus, Deiling city's number one strip bar-club. Of course tonight everyone came dressed in their Halloween best. Fujin looked over at her friend who was at the moment talking to not one, not three, but FIVE guys simultaneously right now. In the time that they had been here they had ALL bought her drinks and listened to the small brunette babble about her favorite rap bands.

Selphie had drank every drink that they bought her,just like she said a true party girl was supposed to. Fujin on the other hand had attracted the ever-awkward and ever-persistent attention of a wrangly and gangly skinny teenaged boy. Was he even old enough to be in this building? He looked like a sixteen year old, she inwardly complained...

He kept going on and on about his tarantula project at his house with his 5 roommates who all liked the show "Big Bang theory". Fujin had become overwhelmed with being relentlessly pursued by some dweeb with a spider collection and shifted over to Selphie and the crowd of boys. She didn't exactly jump straight in the conversation, but added her presence silently.

Selphie lit up when she noticed Fujin was standing right next to her. "Everyone this is my friend Fujin," she introduced. "And this is..." she proceeded to name all of the young men whose names Fujin would never remember even if you paid her.

Another hour in and a few free drinks later Fujin was actually having a good time, which was a surprise. At first she felt very awkward and out of place walking in these high heels with her little mini-zebra dress on. She enjoyed the music the drinks and the funny things Selphie had been saying all night were finally starting to make sense.

But right in the midst of all of that fun, something chaotic happened. Something that made Fujin and Selphie's stomach drop. The loud banging bass came to a halt, completely stopping the music. Everyone in the large Club Incubus made faces of confusion towards the DJ through the painted on make-up and masks that were a part of their costumes.

Everyone's attention had turned towards the bar, where a tall muscular bald man stood upright and was clearly attempting to make an announcement. A lightly brown colored muscular man with a bamboo stick holstered to his backside shadowed behind him.

"Everyone, QUIET!" he yelled in a thick Russian accent. Everyone's bitching about the music and the lights coming on came to an abrupt halt. "There is an important announcement on the news and no one is to leave the building until the police say it's okay."

Whispers of curiosity emerged from the room as the man turned the sports channel to the news channel.

_"This is Eliza Faussel reporting live from Deiling City's Club district," _Fujin didn't notice herself holding her breath as she saw the Club Incubus sign behind the female reporter. She was reporting right outside the front door! _"There has been a level seven lock down placed on the entire city of Deiling. Galbadia Universi_ty has been attacked, I repeat: _Galbadia University has been attacked."_

Everyone gasped in horror and shock. Fujin could barely hear the word, "No," desperately escape Selphie's parted lips. "_Also, breaking news: A massive monument has erupted from the ocean not too far from the Galbadian coast. In a few moments we will be switched to our aerial camera and to reporter Tom Jones so you can see a better look of the destruction that occurred this Halloween night."_

Selphie's vision became less and less blurry from the alcohol she had been consuming as she watched the flat screen T.V. on top of the bar with her single crimson eye. Everyone had become stark silent as they watched the camera view change to a far away angle. On the television you could see a horrible looking tower made of hard stone erupting from the ocean. Waves of heavy water cascaded down the rivulets in the massive architecture.

"What's so dangerous about this?" Selphie whispered to Fujin.

She should have never asked. Flashes of fire began to pop everywhere in the sky like fireworks. Planes were flying around and shooting bullets at the tower before they were shot as well and crashed and exploded into the fierce Goliath-like tower. People were even on top of the roof running around with guns and weapons. "What the fuck is that?" A girl in the crowd asked with tears in her voice. The whole sky above that tower was ligting up different shades of orange and red.

_"As you can see there seems to be some type of battle going on," _this time it was a male reporter's voice giving the update. It was Tom Jones Everyone had become speechless and a few people were even crying out of fear for their safety. Fujin didn't know what to feel. But, by the look on Selphie's pale face she was also terrified with good reason. Those explosions and airships weren't far. They weren't far at all.

_"Some of the airships are Galbadian, but we have also identified a few other ships as Estharian. We believe that this may be a result of an invasion from Esthar, but the reasons for attack are still unknown. The police have made an official blockade surrounding the city. No one is to leave or enter, all children must be supervised by an adult, Lock all doors, contact your local-"_

The reporter's voice dulled in the background of noise that was created inside the massive club. Selphie and Fujin looked at each other. "What should we do?" Fujin asked.

All Selphie could think about was her home being destroyed. Tears began to sting her bright green eyes. "I have a bad feeling about this. It's not safe here."

"Shouldn't we wait until the lockdown lifts?"

"I'm not waiting to get blown to smithereens," she snapped. Then she continued to say, "I can't help but feel like Irvine is involved in all of this somehow."

Selphie trailed off into the crowd pushing her way through people expecting Fujin to follow her. Before Fujin followed Selphie into the crowd of frustrated college students, she prayed for Seifer to be okay...wherever he was.

**Irvine**

The air had grown thick with the scent of flying metal, hot blood and cold death. Irvine felt himself freeze slightly upon sight of the king when he appeared suddenly ripping the door of the airplane off and snatching Zell by the wrist. He could tell by looking into the older man's angry piercing gaze that he would more than likely have to fight.

Reaching for any gun he could find, empty or not, he prepared to fight for his life and for Zell's safety as well. Fortunately, luck was on his side. Irvine was saved from having to fight this time. A large creature had not only snatched Zell off of the battle ground and away from any immediate danger, but the King was knocked back as well.

Irvine gazed into the sky as the helpless boy was carried off into the distance. Fuck! Irvine had managed to let Zell slip away again! He was sure that that was Seifer who had just flown off with Zell.

Zell had been taken out of reach, but the cowboy had been given an opportunity to live a little longer. Feeling more like a failure than ever in his life, Irvine fought to regain control of his body and scrambled in the pilot seat of the helicopter, frantically struggling to get these controls functioning.

Across the massive platform, Irvine squinted to see a slim Asian boy slicing people in half with his trademark whip-fighting style. Nida was here too! It looked like he was trying to protect that vampire with the violet hair-the one who had always been by Squall's side. Irvine flinched when he saw that woman who had captured Zell and his friends: Lien. The horrible woman he had heard nightmarish stories about knocked Nida straight off of the edge with a hard green blast of energy.

Seeing Nida get knocked off like that not only mortified the gunslinger, but also gave him a bright idea. Why struggle to fly off of this tower when there was a good chance he could get shot down in minutes? Without thinking another second, he jumped out of the plane, ran towards the edge and leaped blindly off of the massive tower. It seemed like decades before he slammed into the cold embrace of the protective sea feet-first. He would just have to hope that Zell would be safe with Seifer. After all, Irvine had worked with the man before. He may not like him, and he may be in competition with the guy for Zell's heart and body, but trusted him to at least keep Zell safe when Irvine couldn't...to an extent.

**Comfort**

She watched happily as Russel helped little Nuke climb into an Estharian airship, then he himself boarded and they both flew off safely. Russel kept his promise and he managed to get Nuke out of here safely, just like he said he would.

After the fight with Lien Almasy, Comfort was finally able to regain her balance and she struggled towards the top floor of the SEED facility. The smell of the salty ocean mixed with blood, fire and burning flesh filled her senses as she opened the latch to the roof top.

She also spotted Irvine and Zell running in the distance towards a lone-helicopter. They were getting away! Yes, everything was being taken care of! If she hurried, she could probably get on board with the vampires of Loire Kingdom and get back to Esthar safely. But hope was useless here on this battlefield.

The King had found Zell and was about to escape with him, only for an all too familiar winged beast to come tearing between the king and Zell like a bat out of hell. Seifer!

He had wasted no time. The vampire snatched the boy up quickly in the blink of an eye and carried him off into the slowly lighting sky. Comfort should have been alarmed, but her eyes shimmered as she remembered her last moments with Seifer on the Esthar Mountains. Seifer would do _anything_ to protect Zell. Out of pure selfishness if anything.

An airship crashed on the ground extremely close to her and exploded violently, but she shielded herself from the flames by activating the gadget on her arm or rather it activated itself, but she didn't have to think about it. It shook rapidly on her keeping a green force-field surrounding her until she moved out of the large fire's heat range. Before the airship had been hit, someone had jumped out of it.

This thing that had latched itself to her unwillingly had definitely been saving her life more than once these past few hours. Her mood darkened as she continued to watch the battle going on in front of her. She needed to get out of here...

It was the vampire who was secretary to the old prince, she thought. Comfort recognized him immediately from the castle. Why was he here? This shit was getting crazy.

And of course, _she _would be up here as well. Lien slammed her leg into the vampire, knocking him sideways. He seemed to struggle to get up, while she continued to pursue him. They then went hand to hand and Comfort noticed that when she had been punched in the chest, something small and shiny flew from out of her clothing.

Comfort's wrist vibrated, telling her that she needed to help that vampire with the long beautiful violet hair. A vampire would never be able to kill her, she felt. She had no time to question how this new gadget on her wrist could convey thoughts and feelings like this to her, but they felt right so her legs began to move in Lien's direction. Explosions and gunfire slowed her progress and before she could make her way over completely, she saw Lien stun the boy, and another boy with short dark hair and a whip tried to attack her, but she blasted him, sending him flying off of the edge of this massive tower.

The sound of a scream filled Comfort's ears. A scream that ensured that she would never forget the name: "Nida."

**Laguna**

The King regained his balance quickly after being knocked over by some giant bird. When he looked up at the spot where Zell was, he saw that he was gone and immediately turned his attention to the sky.

There he was, dangling by his wrist, kicking wildly and becoming further and further away rapidly. Laguna watched as Zell was carried off by Seifer Almasy, the man who had delivered the finishing blow upon his son. He turned his attention back towards the helicopter that Irvine Kinneas was in. Just one more quick kill and he could take this aircraft and go join the areal battle that was about to take place.

Laguna unsheathed his Overlord Gunblade once more and prepared to make quick work of the troublesome cowboy, but fate stepped in and saved the youth, allowing him to live just a little longer.

"Sir!"

Jessie, Kiros and Ward all moved in, obliviously blocking the King's path towards the boy.

"All of you move out of the way! He's right there-I will kill him!"

"Sir, we have to evacuate! I'm picking up missile signals!" Jessie got straight to the point. He and the King's other two bodyguards seized him and simultaneously vampire-jumped off of the mountain-like platform that was their battlefield.

"No! I want to avenge my son!" Laguna practically wailed as the wind in the sky hit his face. He felt his feet land on the cold metal of one of the Estharian airships and was shooed inside as the hangar closed behind him. He watched the three men hurry to their stations as though he hadn't said anything. "What is the meaning of this? I demand an explanation!"

As the king spoke, he noticed that he and Laharl both shared an ability to throw these silly tantrums based on vengeance...pity...

"Sir, I am pulling back our ranks, I received word from our navigators that a high powered missile signal was detected just minutes away. We are evacuating at full blast."

As soon as he was done speaking, every Estharian ship that was left and able to, whipped through the sky at an abrupt and alarming speed. Laguna had not been sitting or wearing a seat belt, so upon take-off he was thrown back forcefully against a wall.

So they would have to regroup for now...Laguna looked around in the cockpit of the ship, many things racing through his mind. He hadn't been able to kill Seifer, or Irvine. Two high priority targets, and he hadn't been able to rescue Zell. Zell...something was different about him. That much was obvious just from those few seconds of contact. He had felt darkness at an immense level, and it should not have been that high. It was a good thing he had sent Laharl back to Esthar, he would need the boy's brains..._IF_, his scrawny ass was still at the Kingdom of Loire.

**Laharl**

His violet hair glimmered against the light of the upcoming sun along with his skin covered in a medium layer of sweat. Not that the vampire was at all concerned about his looks right now. He had just seen that horrible woman knock Nida off of the massive platform and watched him fall several miles to his cold deep death.

Laharl wasn't even aware that he was screaming Nida's name with all his might until he could feel the burn in his throat and the blood against his tongue. He also wasn't aware how tightly he was gripping Zell and Squall's engagement ring until his knuckles turned white.

Forgetting his jammed crossbow on the ground he sprinted towards her with intense anger. Why kill her when he could just throw _her_ off of the building as well!? Let's see how she would like slamming against cold salt water and breaking every bone in _her_ body!

His fingernails quickly went from his nice manicure to his deadly daggers. The sharp digits turned dark and extended further than Laharl ever remembered them coming out. Laharl was so fast that she hadn't even seen him coming.

All she had time to register was the skin in her waist getting punctured in one swift blow. He was satisfied to see her body jerk from the pain as he smelled her blood leak from her side and down the hip of her black and yellow body suit.

He had hit his target successfully while she was still reveling at her own success of knocking Nida off of the ledge. "You're going to pay for that!" Laharl breathed in her ear.

Before he could initiate the next phase of his plan, which was to give another hard thrust of his arm to dig the full length of his nails inside of her and shove her off of the edge of the massive S.E.E.D. platform, her body became rigid and alert.

With one swift motion, her hand with the gadget attached to it gripped Laharl's arm tightly. He instantly felt hot pain searing through his body. It was so intense that he _had_ to let go-get away from her because she was going to kill him! When he pulled his sharp fingers out of her body, she stumbled backwards obviously shaken from the blow, but it looked like she was recovering fast as well.

Laharl bent to the ground, the sound of bullets whizzing by his head and explosions around him dulled and became muffled. His body was on fire, burning on the inside and all he wanted was for the pain to stop. The spot on his shoulder where she had touched him seared with hot white pain. She had weakened him in one blow.

The evil blond woman began walking normally towards him. This was it. Nida was probably dead, and pretty soon Laharl would be too. He couldn't protect Zell, or avenge Squall and Nida had died right in front of him and he couldn't do anything about it. He deserved this, he thought. At least he would die by a powerful enemy...he just hoped that he would be able to hold his screams back, as he knew this devil of a woman would surely torture him until he begged to die.

"A disgusting creature like you doesn't deserve a quick death. Any last words before I rip out every organ in your body? Don't worry, I'll save your heart for last so that way you won't miss a thing."

Laharl looked into her eyes. She was smiling with an evil look in her familiar looking green gaze. He had seen those eyes before, but where? Suddenly she looked up behind Laharl and her expression changed. Without another word, she fled from the suffering boy in the opposite direction.

Laharl crumbled to the ground slowly and dizzily as he watched images before him doubling. That woman had run away suddenly. Why?

"Can ya move?" a gentle voice behind him asked. He looked up to see a black girl with curly dark hair and shimmering blue/green eyes staring down at him. "Are ya okay?" she asked him again. "I'm not gonna ya," she said. She reached out her arm and touched the burning spot on his shoulder with the palm of her warm hand. Suddenly the pain was gone and his body returned to normal.

"Thanks. I think I can move now."

"Good. I saw her get on a ship and take off. We need to stop her! She's going after Zell." Laharl had put his guard up upon seeing this girl. She looked familiar, but her clothing told him another story. Was she part of S.E.E.D.? "You can sit here trynna to decide whether or not to trust me, or ya can help me save Zell!" she snapped suddenly.

Laharl stood up on his two feet abruptly, looked at the edge where he saw Nida fall over with remorse, and then turned to the airship taking off after Zell and Seifer and said, "this way. We will need an airship if we're going to stop her."

**Lien**

It has become full Chaos, she thought. Her wrist told her which action to take next. So she keyed in the command and sent the signal to the missile base. Trying her best to run in spite of the wound in her small waist, she headed straight for an awaiting airship.

In just a few short moments a missile would be released and headed straight for the S.E.E.D. Tower. It was a means to an end. Should things get out of hand, the situation needed to be sanitized, those were her orders. But that didn't mean she could allow loose targets to escape out into the Human world. As soon as she evacuated the incoming explosion radius, she would pursue the destructive and unstable target: ZELL DINCHT. As well as anyone else who tried to help him.

"Let's go!" She shouted to Xu who was struggling to keep up with Lien as her skinny legs carried her body as well as a rocket launcher.

They boarded the aircraft swiftly and gave the signal to the pilot, who took off in record speed. He was currently attempting to locate Target Dincht.

"What's taking so long?" she demanded. "Hurry up before they get away!"

Xu remained silent as she focused intently on the artillery of the airship, and making sure that she didn't screw up.

"Is there no turbo in this heap?" Lien snapped.

"Yes, ma'am." the pilot answered immediately.

"Well use it already!"

Without hesitation, he pulled on the gear that sent their ship reeling forward with abnormal speed.

Lien gripped the back of the seat tighter and planted her heels into the ground so she wouldn't fly backwards into the hangar of the airship. Slowing down steadily after a short amount of time, Lien, Xu and the pilot could see the escaped target as clear as day.

"Xu?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm hot!" Xu replied signifying that she was ready to start firing at the target.

"Good. Lock on and fire at will."

"Who is that with him, Ma'am?" the pilot asked referring to the man Zell was clinging too.

"It doesn't matter. Anyone who helps a demon escape is considered a target," Lien responded coldly.

"Firing the first round now," Xu announced pressing the button that controlled the machine gun attached to the ship. Bullets were fired from the chamber and headed in a straight line towards the flying creature and the two boys.

**Comfort and Laharl **

"There they are! I see 'em," Comfort exclaimed from her position in the co-pilot chair. She pointed at a far-away target that was flapping its wings vigorously and trying to escape multiple torrents of bullets coming from the S.E.E.D. ship that was directly in front of them.

The S.E.E.D. ship was so focused on gunning down Zell and Seifer that it didn't even notice the deadly silent Estharian vampire ship hunting and stalking it from behind.

"What you waitin' on? An invitation?" Comfort asked. "Swat 'em down!"

Laharl hid the fact that Comfort was making him nervous with her commanding tone and focused on getting closer and locking onto his target. He entered a few more commands into the dash-board and when the computer confirmed that it was locked on to that S.E.E.D. ship, he shot a pair of lemon bombs at it consecutively.

The first one that fired first was dodged easily by the S.E.E.D. ship, but the next one exploded it's thick gooey acid all over the left side. The metal quickly began to dissolve showing the interior of the ship. The enemy ship stopped it's firing and turned around to face it's attacker.

Already knowing they would have to evade, Laharl rapidly descended underneath the S.E.E.D. Ship.

The sudden movement of their ship made Comfort grip onto the armrest of her chair so hard that her knuckles were beginning to become a lighter color of brown.

"Do you hear that?" Laharl asked.

Without thinking his co-pilot whipped her head around to make sure. "Incoming behind us!"

**BOOM!**

It was too late. Before the S.E.E.D. ship could dissolve completely they used their last resort and fired a shot at Laharl and Comfort's rear. Laharl didn't even know those kinds of shots were possible in straight-on areal combat. Comfort shook violently forward and barely managed to stop herself from crushing her face against the front control panel.

The impact from the rocket that hit them was enough to make them do a couple of revolutions in mid-air.

Without saying a word to each other, Comfort and Laharl both made sure their seat-belts were unbuckled and reached for their ejection switches. The roof of the ship blasted off and flew violently into the wind forgotten and lost in a sea of bright blue.

With one final flick, the pair were launched into the sky at an alarming speed, only slowing down when they reached their highest altitude peak. Comfort hit another switch and her parachute activated.

Laharl flipped his as well as he watched his stolen airship slam into a rock wall and fall into a sea of trees.

**Mell**

"We'll never be able to outrun them on this thing!" Mell yelled frantically over the violent wind blowing in his face. There he was, thinking he would be able to get away safely with Seifer, but that woman was as persistent as ever. She had begun firing rounds of bullets at them, attempting to shoot them out of the sky.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Seifer called back.

Mell looked behind him and saw the light flashing from the machine gun of the S.E.E.D. ship "Move to your right!" Mell shrieked while harshly nudging the larger man operating the trembling beast. It croaked in irritation as Seifer veered it to the right and bullets passed by their heads on their left side.

"No matter what happens, hang on to me!" Seifer called over his shoulder, frustration clearly in his voice. Mell clung tightly around the man's waist as he glanced over his shoulder to see if he could spot any more incoming rockets. The man sitting in front of him wore his black pants but was missing his trademark white trench coat.

"Go faster!"

Seifer felt his mind racing frantically as he thought of a plan to shake this plane. If he didn't act fast they'd both be dead.

It seemed as though both Mell and Seifer's prayers were being answered. Out of nowhere, _another_ ship, came from under and when it was in range shot the ship pursuing the two boys down with some type of acid.

"Whoever that is I owe them a serious blowjob," Mell commented making Seifer give him a look of surprise.

"I-I mean a hug! A hug and nothing else..."

"A few more miles and I'm landing us. We have to stay out of the sky," the vampire explained.

_Don't make me do anything I'll regret, _Zell warned Mell.

Close your eyes then. I forgot how much I like this Seifer character, Mell said devilishly.

Mell's conversation with Zell was quickly interrupted, when a flash of white light filled the entire sky. Followed moments after by an extremely deafening blast coming from behind them. Mell turned to see that the S.E.E.D. facility was being destroyed.

**Selphie and Fujin**

As soon as the vibration went off, people in the still locked club were demanding that the news be turned back on.

That same club owner, who now looked as exhausted as everyone else turned the television back on and increased the volume.

"_Good morning this is reporter Eliza Faussel with more breaking news. A missile attack has just been reported only roughly 75 miles from Deiling, completely destroying the tower that erected only moments before. In addition, the Estharian Airships have fled the scene of the battle this morning and surprisingly there was a chase not too far from the tower just 20 minutes ago. Here's the latest footage."_

The screen changed to a flying creature with two boys on it moving swiftly through the air and dodging lines of bullets. "Oh my God! Isn't that Zell?" Selphie squeaked.

"And Seifer," Fujin could barely manage to say the words.

No, Fujin thought. Please be okay! The ship that was firing at them had been hit by another ship, this time It was Estharian, but then that ship had been hit too!

"_Authorities will issue a fallout investigation on why these events have taken place. Deiling will continue to stay on lock-down until it is clear that the area is 100% safe. Keep all doors locked and use food spar-"_

Eliza continued to report the news under everyone's alert conversation. They had been locked inside this club for hours now and the sun was finally fully up. Obviously, Selphie's plan to escape had not worked.

"That was Seifer and Zell being chased wasn't it? What the hell is going on?" Selphie asked.

"Balamb," Fujin replied. "I have to get to Balamb. I know Seifer is taking him there. It's where he's from. It's the only place they can both go to be safe."

**Zell, Mell and Seifer **

About an hour later, Mell reluctantly released his grip from around Seifer's solid waist and got off of the blood sucking feral beast. He dismounted slowly because the insides of his thighs hurt from squeezing the beast's muscular body during that aerial chase. He walked around jerkily trying to make his muscles less tense. "Fuck," he hissed bitchingly to the air. He had had absolutely enough of these wretched hospital rags.

The three vampires (Seifer, Mell and the flying beast) found that they had landed safely at a local ranch. Cows and horses continued to graze in the distance not caring about the strangers that just flew in from hell and landed on their turf. Seifer supposed that that was the good thing about fat animals and even fat people: They didn't really give a fuck about anything but food. The world could be ending and they would carry on stuffing their faces as though it were their birthright.

There were also no farmers or people around at the present moment. That made things easier and less messy.

The taller blond man climbed off after Mell and acknowledged the fact that the sun had fully risen for the day. Halloween and October were over for the year officially. Welcome November...

Broken from his current musings of the sunrise and the intensity of the current month, he noticed that Zell was walking off towards a barn without any type of tact or caution. He had made it halfway towards the big doors by the time Seifer had even noticed. "Hey!" Seifer called trying to keep his voice low. "the hell you goin'?" There could be people in that barn and he and Zell would be found out!

Zell just kept ignoring him and proceeded twitching his little hips from side to side as he casually opened the large door, rather loudly, and walked into the red painted barn.

He couldn't just leave the winged vampire out here by itself. He beckoned it to follow him as he ran into the barn after Zell and closed the doors behind the three of them.

Scanning the room quickly with a sense of irritation and panic, Seifer found that Zell was nowhere in sight...great. Where did that little fucking twit run off to so fast?

The barn smelled of haystacks and pinewood. Some light leaked through from a few high windows and loose wall cracks. Dust particles danced innocently in the sparse light that _did_ seep through, but where the fuck was Seifer's Chicken? After all a barn just isn't quite the same without its chickens...

A noise to his right gave him the answer he needed. He spotted the boy shuffling through a few old cabinets with determination. Seifer began to get really irritated at this point. Who the fuck walks off and rummages through dusty wardrobes after being imprisoned, threatened and shot at!?

The scarred vampire stormed over to him, loose straw sticking to the bottoms of his boots. He hopped over a few abandoned trinkets and unused bicycles occasionally along the way towards the smaller blond. When he finally got within arm's reach of Zell, who continued to rummage through cabinets as though he hadn't even noticed Seifer at all, he said "Um, may I ask, what exactly the fuck are you doing?"

Zell continued to toss things out of the cabinet casually and replied, "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to find something to wear." Seifer raised a twitching annoyed eyebrow. Zell made a face at a pair of jeans that were too baggy for him to fit and then finally regarded the taller man. "Unless of course you'd rather I stay wearing these hospital rags for another three days?"

_You're pissing him off, Mell. Stop!_

Zell's voice was the same, but his tone and word choice was strange. As a matter of fact, now that Seifer observed the boy more carefully a couple of other things were way off too. Like the fact that Zell's scent...it was different. It seemed older more mature and threatening. And another thing: he wasn't acting the least bit afraid of the vampire. The fuck? He was practically...a completely different person since the last time he had seen him in the Esthar mountains about a week ago.

Why is he looking at us like that?

_ Act more normal, he thinks you're being strange! Which is true. You ARE acting out of the ordinary to him._

Maybe he was in some type of traumatic shock. Traumatic experiences were known to change the scents of humans to vampires at times...so that made sense why Zell smelled slightly different. It would be in the blond vampire's best interest to find out what exactly happened back at that facility. The sooner the better.

Seifer ignored these facts for now, it was hard to focus when Zell was pissing him off this quickly. "Listen, you little shit. In case you don't remember: I'm the one with the claws, fangs, sword, and don't forget this big ass dick-You are in no position to be walkin' off from me without telling me where you're going, understand?"

Zell had not looked at him the entire time that the other man had spoken. He finally _did _react when he found a blue lump of ruffled clothing and his eyes lit up"This will do, I think," he chimed.

He set the bundle of clothing down on a nearby coffee table that looked like it had a broken leg, and began removing his paper thin hospital gown over his head. He tossed it to the side completely revealing the naked backside of his body to Seifer without any type of shame at all.

The vampire gawked only long enough to have Zell's nice round apple bottom imprinted in his memory for all of eternity before uncontrollably turning around to look away from Zell's naked body. Upset that Zell was making him feel this embarrassed he spat, "Now what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm getting changed. Care to watch?" Zell teased. "Like I said I'm not wearing that lab rat suit anymore." What the fuck was going on? Something just was not right...not right all. "Okay I'm done changing. You can look now..." Seifer turned around slightly scowling in the face near his nose and under his eyes.

_Stop messing with him, Mell. He's unpredictable._

Trust me, he won't hurt us, Mell said confidently.

Zell was now wearing dusty blue overalls with no shirt on underneath. They were so tight on him they revealed practically all of his curves in his small body and his nipples could be seen poking through the stretchy denim. His little hips twitched playfully as he brushed by Seifer. His new destination was a dirty full-body mirror near the wall at the end of the barn. Seifer watched with interest as Zell checked himself out in his new attire turning at different angles.

_Nice call on the overalls._

I _thought _you would approve. See? We're more alike than you think.

_Aside from the fact that I'm not a blood sucking demon or a murderer or a sex-craving maniac, but we'll set those differences aside for now. I want control of my body back..._

Um, when you hold up your end of the bargain, I'll be more than glad to change seats with you. In fact, this barn is deserted, me and Seifer are alone. We both already know what he wants. Hee hee. I could just knock it out right now.

_NO! Hell no! ANY vampire but him, _Zell cried.

That wasn't part of the deal! Mell shot.

_I don't care! _

In that instant, Zell did the only thing he could think of to save his body from both Mell and Seifer: As soon as he saw his reflection through Mell's eye in the mirror, he snatched Mell's soul and tugged him toward the "passenger's seat".

What the hell are you doing!?

. "Hey!" Seifer barked with rage, completely oblivious to the two boys internally arguing with each other. Zell was faced away from his reflection checking out the back of his outfit before he froze completely, turned to face the mirror and (alarming Seifer) jolted like he had gotten a cold chill.

"Ack!" Seifer heard him shriek. The vampire cocked his brow in bewilderment.

"Are you okay?" he asked slowly feeling awkward like he was intruding on the human.

This time Zell reacted to Seifer in the most normal way so far, by turning towards the other man with a deer-like expression. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

The expression on the boy's face looked as though he had just been pulled out of the ground by a plant gardener. Seifer had also noticed that that powerful smell of delightful young lilac had returned to the air.

Looking back at himself in the mirror, Zell examined his reflection. "I need shoes," he said flatly before running to a trashcan in the corner and throwing up.

Seifer narrowed his eyes at Zell's retching body in the corner. Something wasn't right with Chicken and it wasn't _just _his morning sickness...

**?**

"Is it dead?"

"What kind of fish is that, Pa?"

"That's not a fish, dummy. It's a naked man."

"Look, he's starting to move!"

**GASP!**

It's not every day a teenage boy washes up on the shores of a highly populated beach stark naked and near death from drowning.

Here he was in all of his naked glory with pale ivory skin, short damp chocolate brown chestnut locks hanging gracefully over the mysterious battle scar over his forehead and piercing cold blue eyes that had not yet been revealed to the world yet.

He heard every voice that murmured above him, wondering if he was a dead body or some new breed of aquatic life-form. Something told him it was time to awaken, and so he did...

Spitting out salty sea water from his mouth, he hacked and coughed his lungs out into the hot white sand.

"Oh thank God. He's alive!"

"Thought I was gonna have to bury a teenager for a second."

So many different types of voices, all at once. It made his head throb. His head was already pounding, he realized as he finally caught his breath and was able to breathe without coughing up saltwater.

"Hey, kid. Can you hear me?"

He lifted his head and opened his eyes slowly to see the face of what appeared to be a smiling middle-aged fishermen. On his side was a woman of the same age, and two younger children, a boy and a girl by their hips. Behind them stood a whole crowd of people in swim-wear and sunglasses and tanning lotion.

The boy who woke up on the beach surrounded by ALL of these people just looked around dumbly at everyone. Who were they? And what was this place? How the hell did he get here and... "What's my name?"

"Cool, he has brain damage!" the little boy exclaimed.

"He's not brain damaged, dummy. He has amnesia," the little girl who was slightly older than the boy said.

"For heaven's sake, Tom. Get the boy a towel already. His frank and beans are hanging out all over the sand!" the woman standing close to the fisherman named Tom fussed.

"Oh, right!" Tom grabbed a towel and tossed it at the lost boy, whose tummy had rumbled from the mention of "franks and beans".

"Can you stand, dear?" the woman asked him.

It took zero time for him to register the use of his legs once the towel was wrapped around him completely.

"Okay, people go back to your business nothing to see here!" a police officer yelled into the crowd. Everyone sighed as though the energy had been sucked out of them, but quickly went back to their beach activities and took their attention off of the boy who washed up ashore naked.

This was something the town of Balamb would be talking about for weeks...

**Laharl and Comfort**

Comfort and Laharl had landed safely in a field of corn somewhere outside of a city called Dollet. After they both felt the vibrations and watched the huge flash of light from the missile attack, Comfort had cut her parachute off of her back-pack, and before she had time to even think about her next move, she turned to look at Laharl who was aiming his crossbow at her with a serious expression on his face.

He wasted no time. "I want to know who you are and why you have on that battle suit and that thing on your arm," he demanded of her.

She held up her arms innocently, trying to show the boy that she meant him no harm and prayed that she could convince him that they were on the same team. "M'names Comfort," she replied. "Comfort Fedoke."

"Fedoke..." Laharl repeated curiously. "You work for my Kingdom, then?"

"Yeah...well I did. Before da werewolves came and, Seifer and well...you know the story."

"You know what happened?"

"Of course I do. I was _dere!_" she exclaimed.

"Fine, so you worked for my kingdom. Why then, are you wearing that battle suit, and that thing on your arm?" Laharl repeated.

"That story is gonna get jus' a tad mo' complicated. It's a long story and I'm telling ya now, you're not gonna want to have yo weapon raised the whole time for it."

Laharl couldn't help but ease at the sound of her soothing voice, even though she was wearing an enemy suit and had bad English speaking skills.

Nonetheless, he lowered his weapon. "Okay you can explain it to me on the way to Dollet. Any funny business and I won't have any problems taking you out."

She ignored that last comment, she could probably take him right now if she really wanted to, to be honest. Thanks to her new devil gadget**. **"Fine," she succumbed to his demands for the sake of trust and cooperation for now. "Why Dollet?"

They began walking through the cornfield and conversing at the same time. "It has a naval base equipped with sea transportation-after all it _is_ the Naval Capitol. I need it to take us to the nearest official kingdom."

"Which is?"

"Trabia."

"I'm _from_ Trabia!"

"I figured as much..." he said unimpressed. Laharl assumed only because of the color of her skin.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" Comfort asked.

"I don't care. Just don't get in my way."

"Trust me, once we arrive in Trabia you're going to be glad you brought me along. A white vampire such as yourself stepping into a kingdom full of Rich tall black warriors alone ain't exactly the smartest idea. And das just me bein' honest."

"I see." Having this girl with him may prove beneficial after all. She seemed to be experienced in combat, and would be able to help him navigate the Dark Kingdom of Trabia without any unnecessary harm.

"Why do you need to get to Trabia?" Comfort asked.

"Many reasons. Transportation, communication...negotiations. I need an airship and to restock my supply of warriors and ammunition. As you may well know, I _was _the secretary to the late prince Squall Leonheart." Laharl grimaced when he remembered that King Laguna had ordered him to head back to the castle, and he deliberately disobeyed his orders. He would be punished severely for this...but he'd worry about that _after_ his mission.

"Yeah, that's why ya look so familiar."

"Well I, as well as Zell is one of the acting princes."

"No kidding Zell _AND you_ are da current princes?"

"Yes, and it is my job to bring him home safely, but that is proving to be more difficult than I had expected."

"If you're a prince, shouldn't you be at da Loire Kingdom. Safe, and not in battle?"

Laharl sighed. "It's complicated...anyway enough about me. It's your turn to explain yourself. Same questions as before."

It was Comfort's turn to sigh, because she knew this was going to sound weird coming out of her mouth. "I'm wearing this bad S and M costume cause it felt like the right thing to do, okay? You don't know what it was like bein' a prisoner in dat place. If I was gonna get me and my friends out, I had ta become strong real fast as well as blend in."

"I see...and _that_ gives you strength?" Laharl gestured at the tool on the dark-skinned girl's arm.

"I'm not sure what dis is...but from what I can tell I'm stuck wit it. I can't get it offa me."

"Perhaps once we get to your home kingdom, you can find out more about it." Laharl would like to know more about it himself. It _was_ identical to the weapon that had killed Nida after all...

"I was thinkin' da same thing," she agreed. "Someone hasta know how to either remove it or at least tell me what it does exactly. Do ya trust me yet?"

"You're still alive aren't you?"

Comfort and he both chuckled. "I'm sorry about your friend," Comfort suddenly said after a moment of silence.

"Hm?"

"You know. The cute Asian guy with the whip. I'm sorry he died. I heard you scream his name when he fell over." In that moment back on top of the S.E.E.D. Tower, Comfort could have sworn she'd felt this boy's pain.

"Oh." Laharl had answered flatly. "Yes, he was a battle partner. It was unfortunate." She frowned at the coldness in his voice. The way he had reacted when he stabbed Lien in the waist did not reflect the way he was acting now.

And she was right. Rage wasn't quite the word to describe it. There was more to it than that. What he felt when he watched Nida die was different than when he watched Squall die. But of course the countermeasure would be the same: Vengeance.

Laharl's kill list was getting longer and longer. S.E.E.D., that woman and Seifer Almasy. Everyone would pay for hurting the one's Laharl cared about. They would suffer horribly.

"That woman..." Laharl began thoughtfully. "She has the same weapon as you do."

"Yeah. Like I said, I stole it from her in order to beat her."

"Who is she? Tell me more about her, I'm curious to know." Know your enemy...

"Well from what I've seen, she's a pretty important piece of S.E.E.D., if there even _Is a S.E.E.D. anymore _that is. Also...she's..."

Laharl raised a violet brow at her sudden nervousness to speak. "Go on," he urged.

"She's Seif's sister."

**Seifer**

"I'd hate to say I told you so...well who am I kidding? I _did_ tell you so. You were just too stupid, not-to-mention trustworthy to listen."

"I'm already down, stop kicking me," Zell warned, agitated that he had to fight so hard to control his body, but the price he paid for having control was having to endure Seifer rubbing his face in the dirt.

The trio had left the barn without anyone seeing them. It worked out well because Zell got new clothes, the winged vampire beast got to feed on a cow and Seifer got to see Chicken's ass. Heh heh. They all wandered down a country trail in the woods that laid on the border of the ranch. This little "small talk" was quickly turning into heated bickering between the two blonds.

"Maybe now you'll start listening to me?"

"And why the hell what I do that? I hate you, remember, or did you somehow seem to forget?"

"No I haven't forgotten," Seifer replied casually, noticing how Zell's words had itched slightly.

"So I guess there's no chance of getting rid of you is there?"

"Not a chance in hell."

Zell rolled his eyes at his badly placed misfortune. He hated Seifer, but he wasn't a murderer. He knew he wasn't strong enough to just destroy the man right here on the road in the middle of the day. He would need Mell to do it, since he was actually a vampire, but Seifer dying seemed to be the _last _thing on Mell's mind. Mell had _other _intentions when it came to the vampire. Zell gagged at the thought...

"So why exactly are we headed in this direction again?" the vampire asked curiously. His perception had gotten the better of him and he was tired of walking around aimlessly with the boy.

"I've decided that it's time for me to go home." Zell shocked himself by saying those words out loud and so abruptly. But he _knew _it was the absolute truth. Being imprisoned and tortured like that was not going to happen _ever_ again...if he could help it that is...He had a nasty habit of getting himself into horrid situations as of lately.

"You're kidding, right?" Seifer asked raising an eyebrow and keeping up with the boy's short-legged steps with ease.

"Do I sound like I'm joking?"

"Are you an idiot? Okay don't answer that. Chicken, that's a horrible idea. People are still after you. Vampires, S.E.E.D., F.L.A.R.E.-"

"And you."

"That's besides the point..."

Zell stopped dead in his tracks practically fuming hot steam at the taller man.

"Listen, you may not know what it's like to have a family, okay? But I do. Throughout my life I've had dogs, cats, ferrets, aunts and uncles, a few cousins, and my _mother_. That crazy bitch with the fake tits that I was telling you about, she threatened my Ma, Seifer! Said she'd hurt Ma, Comfort, and the others if I didn't cooperate.

"She threatened your-"

"_Threatened. As_ in 'she said she would kill her. Those people are capable of _anything_ and there's no telling how far they'll go to get to me. This isn't over until one of us is dead...I can feel it. And if you can't understand that, then I'm sorry. It's your problem. I'm going to see my mother _with_ or _without_ you..."

Zell stormed off again without warning. Seifer jogged a little bit to keep up this time and when he finally did, he remained quiet for only a moment before quickly making up his mind. "Tell me about this _person. _You know, the one who threatened you and your mom, and your _friends._" Seifer spat the last word like the thought of friendship was some vile plague.

Seifer saw as much as Zell felt himself stiffen at the memory of the woman who made his life a living hell for the past couple of days or so. "She's a cruel woman," he began slowly. "A nightmare. They don't need to tell stories about witches to children make them behave. All they have to do is tell a story about _her_."

Seifer inwardly rolled his eyes. The fear for a human and fear for a vampire were two different things entirely. Nonetheless, Seifer listened and prodded the boy to continue.

"Go on..."

"I never even found out her name..." Zell said sadly. "Last I saw her she...Comfort. I don't even know if Comfort and the others are alive." Seifer frowned. He could tell there was a chance that Zell might get emotional. He didn't know how to deal with that sort of thing... "Russel, Irvine, Nuke..."

Seifer remembered all of them. Especially Nuke, who-along with Comfort-he had spent the most time with. Both protecting and traveling. "If I find out that she hurt any of them because of me I'll never be able to forgive myself." Zell stopped at a nearby tree trying to catch his breath. He felt dizzy all of a sudden. Overwhelmed, in fact. It was all justtoo much for him at once.

_Pull yourself together!_ Mell urged

"She has an army that fears her and will do whatever she says. Even if it means risking their lives. And that doctor. That horrible deformed Doctor. They tried to take my baby and kill us!" Zell choked out an uncontrollable sob as he couldn't help himself stopping at the nearest tree he could find.

"So you're saying, you hate her more than you hate me?" Seifer asked cautiously, sincerely and even hopefully.

Mell stood aside watching and listening to Zell explained what happened back at the S.E.E.D. tower to Seifer. He had to give Zell props, because the last time he cried was when he was up against four other soldiers who had whooped his ass before Irvine came to the rescue. Now he only let out a single sob.

_My li_ttle _baby is growing up! _Mell said more to himself than out loud, hoping Zell wouldn't hear and get even more frustrated.

Zell still hadn't answered Seifer's last question yet, but as Seifer listened, he realized he wasn't surprised by any of this. _This _was why Seifer had wanted Chicken to leave that dumb ass Irvine in the first place. Blind leading the blind, the gay cowboy had been leading Chicken straight to his death. Seifer made a mental note to slap the man around a few times next time he saw him, but focused on the topic at hand as well.

Chicken, his friends, his mother and his child had all been threatened. Seifer could honestly care less about Zell's friends for the most part, even less about that Pussy-Prince's child that was inside Zell. But when it came to Zell, and even Zell's mother, Seifer felt cold chills crawling over his skin.

Basically, in Seifer's mind. There was only one answer: that woman had to die. And Seifer would be glad to do it. He was far too obsessed with the boy to let anything that stood a chance of harming his prey just be up and walking around. He had already made an example of Squall, and Seifer didn't discriminate by any means. He'd gladly kill a _woman_ who tried to hurt Zell. Especially a woman, who by the sounds of it, had characteristics of an evil man.

Seifer hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath waiting for Zell's response until the boy began speaking again. "I think I do hate her more," he began slowly. "At least I fear her more..." Accomplishment and relief waved over Seifer. "You killed my husband, but I know why you did it, because you _wanted_ me, right?"

"You're finally getting over his death?"

Zell became enraged again, "Don't think for one second, that I fucking forgive you! You're still a murdering piece of shit, Seifer," he yelled. Seifer's insides were being torn apart, but he couldn't feel it. "I'm only saying I understand _why_ you did it. What I don't understand is how that woman can be so cruel. Trying to kill my friends and my mother is something you have yet to do...So yes, I hate her more."

That was certainly emotional, Seifer thought. Zell's hormonal level was spiking like crazy right now, Seifer could sense it. But he had given the man a direct answer.

"You know how I can tell she's approaching?" Zell asked and without waiting for an answer he said, "Heels. The awful sound of heels clicking against the ground. Her shoes are sharp and make her tall and scary. And she has this thing on her wrist-"

"Okay. That's enough," Seifer interrupted. He had already made up his mind and didn't need to see Zell suffering any more unless _he_ was the cause of it. He truly was a dignified asshole. Zell didn't say anything else, just focused on trying to stop the ground from spinning. "You're tired. And whether you want to admit it or not, Chicken, you need me."

"What makes you say that?" Zell asked cautiously now using one arm to support his weight on the bark of the tree.

"Because I'm fuckin awesome," he began. Then on a more serious note he added, "You're going to need help. And I don't see that gay ass cowboy here to protect you, or your little black girlfriend either."

"Their names are Comfort and Irvine...asshole."

"Whatever...listen, you want to get to your Mom's safely, right?" Zell reluctantly nodded his head knowing exactly where this conversation is going. "Well, do you know the way?"

"Yes," Zell lied.

"Bullshit," Seifer immediately responded.

Seifer was 100% correct. Zell had no idea where in the world he was. When he had first run away from home, he knew where he was headed because he had been coming from his home location. That was about four months ago. Now, he was in his second month of pregnancy and he was lost in the fields with a dangerous murdering vampire, a pair of dusty tight overalls, and old farming boots.

Everything about his current situation was begging him to cry, because he had never felt more alone than now. But something in the back of his mind was telling him to be strong.

_Be strong, Zell. Let him help you. He's cute anyway. You might learn a thing or two._

"I know you're lying, Chicken. You can't tell your right hand from your left, let alone find your way back to Balamb," Seifer teased cruelly.

"Fine, asshole. If you're so smart, then point me in the right direction. Go on..."

"Well take it from someone who has been traveling for years. You see right now we're on the most southern part of the Galbadian continent. That's where I landed myself and your highness." Zell continued to listen ignoring the "your highness" comment. He didn't want to get into it with this man too intensely if he was going to be the one who ended up being a guide for him in the end, even though that was practically an indirect taunt to the death of his late husband Squall Leonheart.

Seifer continued, "The closest major city from here is Whinhill. If we head there by Cerberus we should be there by nightfall."

"Cerberus?"

Seifer directed his eyes over to the winged zebra-like demon resting by a tree to the side.

Zell's face scrunched up. "You named it? Ugh never mind...the thing is, we need to stay out of the sky...That woman could be above us as we speak just waiting for us to jump into the air."

"You're absolutely right, Chicken. Which is why we're going to ride him on the ground. He is a descendant of the horse family after all. Meaning: he gallops."

"Interesting..."

"Anyway," Seifer proceeded clearing his throat. "Once we reach Winhill I guess you will need to stop and take care of your human needs, such as sleeping and washing and giving yourself a pedicure or whatever it is you stupid human girly boys do. So we'll stop and rest for the night at an Inn."

The thought of Zell being asleep and letting his guard down around Seifer really bothered him to which he immediately protested, "Um no. That's not going to happen. We can just go straight through no matter how many days it takes...nonstop. I can keep up. I have powers..."

"That would work, but you would be exhausted by the time we reach Timber, which is the next major city we stop at. I strongly recommend that if you're being hunted by an army of people specialized in hunting demons, wouldn't it be wise to get rest whenever necessary? Besides, using your powers is just going to exhaust you even more and your guard will be down. I can protect you, but you will need to be able to run and hide should anything happen...like the little damsel you are."

"I suppose," he agreed angrily. Zell hated admitting that Seifer was right. Absolutely _hated_ it.

_Ohhh! Sexy AND smart! Just how I like em'._

"Shut up!" Zell shrieked over his shoulder making Seifer stare at him like he had grown a second head.

"I mean keep going...I said shut up because you keep making me feel stupid. Just go on already!"

"Okay...anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah. Timber. Timber is after Winhill and it's the closest town with a train station. It will take us straight to Balamb. Home sweet home. See? I'm just as good as those losers at the castle. I can protect you _and _lead you home, just like they can."

"Sounds like a plan. But what's in it for you? Like I said I don't trust you and I have a good reason not to-not to mention you know I don't like you. And nothing is ever going to happen between you and me...EVER" Seifer felt that last sentence hit him pretty hard for some reason. But he ignored it and kept his same cocky expression before Zell could notice it falter. "There has to be some ground rules and an explanation."

"I think you know_ exactly _why we're both here, Chicken. Are you really going to make me say it out loud?" Zell's eyes narrowed daring Seifer to say something stupid or out of line. However, Seifer didn't seem to care whether he was bluffing or not. "I'm a pretty straightforward guy so I guess I'll say it as many times as you need for it to finally sink in: I'm here to Fuck. And you're here to get fucked. By ME. Does that make sense?"

"You're impossible, you know that? And you disgust me. I HATE you."

The cocky vampire just shrugged like an innocent three-year old. "Fair enough. I'm gonna make sure you get home safely. On the way I'm just gonna have to be your body guard and kill the people who are after you. Because I don't fuck dead people...I'm not _that_ sick."

"Okay I get it. Stop saying that word."

"What? Fuck?"

"Yes!"

"Fine. But you catch my drift, right? You're no use to me dead..."

"I was under the impression that I was no use to you pregnant, either. Which makes me wonder why you even bother." Zell's words were once again like daggers, but Seifer was strong. He could withstand the harshest of attacks.

"You aint gonna be pregnant forever, Chicken. I'll still be around after your bastard is born. And when she _is _born, your mine. There's no way around it." His words were final. Whatever Seifer wanted he would get.

Zell didn't know what was scarier right now. The fact that Seifer knew he was having a girl, or how possessive he was being. "Don't call my girl a bastard," Zell warned dangerously feeling his power surfacing.

_Oohhh shit is getting real..., _Zell could hear Mell instigating inside of him.

"Whatever. Listen, we should get going**-**don't wanna stand in one spot for too long..."

Seifer smirked in triumph as he watched Zell walk towards Cerberus. Seifer walked up behind Zell and grabbed his small hips, hoisting him up on top of Cerberus with minimal effort. "A warning would be nice next time," Zell complained. "And not that I care, but what happened to your trench coat? I've never seen you without it...until now."

The vampire rolled his eyes and mounted Cerberus as well. When he had hid in the Veterinary Building on Galbadia's campus, he had to get rid of it, it had been burned to a crisp. "Lost it in a recent fire," he responded quickly wanting to get to his next topic before they pulled off. "By the way, Chicken you were wrong about one thing."

"What?" Zell tried his best to act bored and uninterested.

"When you said I'm used to being alone, and not having a family. You know I wasn't born a vampire, right?"

"Oh?" Zell replied with mock interest.

"Yeah I was infected, we can't all be like your precious husband. I _did_ have a family."

The small tattooed blond was going to snap at the man seated in front of him on Cerberus for bringing up Squall, but when he realized what the man said, and heard the hurt in his voice, he chose silence instead.

Zell instinctively gripped tightly to Seifer's waist when he felt his body jerk from Cerberus' sudden take off. Damn, the beast was almost as fast on the ground as it was in the air! While holding his face against Seifer's hard back, Zell unintentionally breathed in the man's smell.

Pure delight filled his senses and stirred physical sensations within him that he hadn't felt since he had been back at Loire castle, when he had been having sex practically on a daily basis with Squall. Those were the good ol' days, he thought. The thought of having sex again made him so horny...

Mellenia, stop it!

_Can't help it. I like what I like..._he answered simply.

You're going to make these next three days extremely difficult.

_Now you know what it's like to feel things that you don't want to feel. I have to suffer through your emotions every second of every day. Besides, they're YOUR hormones._ _Remember I got you out of that facility. You WILL hold up your end of the deal!_

WhenI told you that I would let you use my body to have "get out of jail sex" with a vampire, I meant _any_ vampire in the world except for _this _one.

_We'll see how long you can resist my urges. And trust me, he is already aware of my presence. He's just waiting for the right time to take what's his._

ENOUGH!

Mellenia didn't say another word. Which was good, because Zell didn't need someone in his head telling him to do things that were not mentally or physically healthy. However, the urge and the want for Seifer never went away or dulled. Which made for an extremely long and uncomfortable journey. This was bad. Extremely bad...

**?**

He was taken to a small cozy home in the suburbs of the town he woke up in. The family that had found him, the fisherman named Tom and his wife and two children, sat him down in the kitchen at the table. The children were told to go upstairs and play. Thank goodness. The boy didn't think he could handle their antics right now, even though they were somewhat entertaining.

"Do you remember anything at all before you woke up on the beach?" Tom asked him as he slid a sandwich in front of him.

The boy fought to remember something...anything...

**Knock knock knock.**

"I'll get that. I forgot Cora was on her way over," Tom's wife, who's name was Regina, said.

"Go ahead, son. Eat."

He stopped drooling over his sandwich, picked it up and began taking ginormous bites out of it. He had never tasted anything like it in his life. It was absolutely delicious. Tom noticed that the boy was eating as though he were starving, which he probably had been.

Regina had walked into the kitchen again accompanied by another woman. She was a healthy sized portly woman. She held a warm smile on her round face, but she stared at the boy and the scar on his forehead with curiosity. "I'll set the tuna casserole on the counter," she said finally taking her focus off of the boy. His eyes had followed her all the way to the counter, and then he resumed smashing his sandwich.

"I'll make some tea," Regina also offered.

He had finally finished eating. It was so delicious, he could have another and another. "I can't remember anything," he finally answered Tom.

"Friends, family...?" Everything was blank. "School, a girlfriend?" Like it had all been washed away clean. "Your birthday? What about that scar there on your face?"

"That's enough, Regina," Tom said. "He won't remember everything in one day and you're giving him a headache." Tom was right he had almost hurt himself by thinking too hard.

The boy stared blankly at the coffee table trying to remember at least his name or his favorite color. But he knew nothing about himself at all. He was blank-completely naked in a sense and vulnerable.

The woman named Cora said something under her breath from her position in the kitchen. "What was that, Cora?"

"I was just saying that...he's like a fallen angel." The room became silent with question. Even the boy had become intrigued by the woman's statement. She continued, "Everything happens for a reason. There is a reason why he can't remember anything. And his face...it reminds me of an angel."

Tom was silent in thought for a while before replying. "Sounds about right.."

"Makes perfect sense," Regina agreed.

"We mustn't turn our back on him," Cora continued. "God has clearly sent this boy to us for a reason."

"You're absolutely right," Tom said.

"But we're already on top of each other here as it is," Regina added trying not to sound hurtful. "And we have two children to feed. We simply don't have enough money for _another_ child."

Cora pursed her lips and said, "I suppose he'll just have to stay with me then."

"Cora," Regina warned. "Are you sure you're ready to take in such a huge responsibility? Especially after-"

"And what would you have me do, Gina? Send him to foster care? A bit old to be sharing a bunk bed don't you think? It is my duty as a woman of faith to help someone who is lost find their way," Cora interrupted Regina.

"Then it's settled," Tom interrupted his wife Regina from saying anything more. "After all. You are only one house away. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask. We're here on this mission too...right, Regina?"

"Yes of course, dear."

Cora turned to the boy who had been quiet the whole time sitting at the coffee table like a shy child. "Unless of course you wanted to go somewhere else. It's entirely up to you."

"Um...I don't mind staying with you. At least until I can think for myself and remember who I am. I wouldn't want to burden you." his voice seemed to be filled with sadness and innocence. He spoke softly and without hurtful intentions.

Cora just smiled pleasantly at him, her braided pony-tail moving slightly on her shoulder as she turned to help Regina make tea. The boy felt as though he had just made someone very happy.

After they all had tea at Mister Tom's (or the McKenzies) house, Cora beckoned him to follow her to her house, which was only one door down. The neighborhood was so peaceful and pretty, he noticed. The sight of apple trees filled his vision as they passed by some children playing hop-scotch on the sidewalk.

"Come on inside," Cora said sweetly.

When he entered her house, the first feeling he felt was comfortable. He suddenly felt at ease-like not remembering anything about himself was all of a sudden okay. There was all of a sudden such a warm embrace upon entering this house.

"Feel free to watch some television while I go fetch you some clothes and get the guest room ready," she offered.

"Okay."

The house was filled with a strong pleasant smell. But he didn't know what the smell was. What could it be? When she had went up the stairs, he had sauntered over to the living room. Cora had a lovely house. A clean kitchen and a nice television set. The boy thought about turning on the television, but something else caught his eye.

There were photographs all over the room as well as trophies and awards. He examined them closer and saw the nice lady Cora in several pictures. One of them was with a man about her age. He wore a military dress suit. He must have served the country, he assumed.

The boy began to wonder if _he_ had a father who fought to protect his country and had a mom as nice as Cora.

Moving on, he noticed other pictures, which a lot of them he noticed had the same pair of people in it. It was Cora again. Only this time she was with a young boy. She looked so happy in these pictures. Completely different from how tired she appeared to be these days. Her smile was so big in this picture as she seemed to be squeezing the life from the boy.

He could tell that the two loved each other _very _much. The boy had pearly white teeth, sea blue eyes and blond hair-with black ink on the side of his face. While examining him he couldn't help but to notice that he seemed to be studying the boy's face more than he had looked at anyone else's. He was...adorable in a way...

Moving on Squall noticed the certificates. A certificate of graduation signed to someone named Zell Dincht. Behind the certificate, but to the side was a picture of the boy again. Only this time he was hugging a dog ever so lovingly. He picked it up and turned the frame around. On the back it read "Ellie and Zell."

"You like the pictures?" Cora's sudden voice suddenly made the boy jump. He had been intruding on this woman's private family memories and he should be ashamed.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Cora. I didn't mean-I-i-I."

"Don't worry, dear. It's just my family. Nothing to feel embarrassed about," she laughed lightly as she approached him with arms full of clothing.

"Oh," he replied feeling relief. "Where is your doggy?"

"Ellie?" Cora asked walking up closer to the dresser where all of the pictures were kept. "She was my son's. She passed away a few years back."

"Oh." He said sadly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Cancer is a terrible thing. It can get to even the best of us."

"Is this your husband here?" he asked referring to the man in the military suit.

"He is my late husband," she corrected. "He was killed in battle."

"Oh. Again I am _very_ sorry to hear that."

"It's quite all right. He died serving his country. He is a hero."

"I see. So then you live with just this boy here? Where is he? Can I meet him soon?" he had become excited for some reason, and didn't know why.

Cora suddenly became sad at the mention of the boy in the pictures. "That is my son, Zell. He..." she paused for a moment, becoming sad. "I live alone."

He felt horrible seeing Cora become so sullen at the mention of her son. "Is everything okay?" he blurted.

"I'm not quite sure myself. But my baby is missing. Someday he will come back. I know in my heart he will return to me."

"Miss Cora, you're son will come back to you. I feel it in my heart too," his words were honest.

She smiled and laughed. "Please, call me Ma."

"Ma?"

"Everyone at the school where I work calls me Ma Dincht."

"Oh. Okay then. Ma," he pronounced awkwardly keeping his mouth open for too long. He felt himself smiling and he liked the idea of calling this nice woman Ma.

"And what about you?" she asked suddenly.

"Me?"

"I have no idea what to call you. I can't go around saying things like Fallen Angel or Lost Boy to just anyone. People would think that I'm crazy!" she joked.

"You're probably right. Um. I don't know."

"Hmmm. How about Leon?"

"Leon?"

"It seems. Right to me. And it suits you. Do you hate it?"

"Leon...no I actually like it."

**Lien**

They had landed somewhere safely. As expected. They were trained to take the most convenient evacuation route if they were ever shot down. That's the way it was at S.E.E.D.: Be Prepared For Anything.

Their airship laid to waste several meters away. Completely un-flyable. It had been destroyed by acid made from special vampire toxins.

Lien noticed Xu cut off her parachute with her small pocket knife as she slid it back into the side of her knee high boots, which were right below her exposed knee caps below her Galbadian military mini-skirt.

The pilot had cut his parachute off as well and stood awaiting orders. "Xu, scan the perimeter," Lien ordered flipping her hair out of her face.

"Yes, ma'am," she answered quickly as she ran off to make sure the area was secure.

"And you, navigate. Find out where we are and the possible location of the target."

"Yes, ma'am," the pilot answered.

Now that she had given them orders, she was free to focus on her own tasks. Immediately turning her back to the pilot, she toyed with the gadget on her wrist. Before she could even check her screen for updates, a terrifying face she was too familiar with appeared upon the display screen.

"Norg, sir!" She tried her best to look glamorous as ever, serious and not in disarray.

"Report, Almasy."

"The target got away, sir."

"And the S.E.E.D. facility?

"Destroyed...process of reconstruction should be completed in approximately two weeks."

"I see. Then there is nothing you can do about that. Proceed with your mission, cut off his resources, and travel lightly."

"Yes, sir. Sir, may I ask. Why is this target such a threat?"

"That information is highly classified. Any other questions?"

"No, sir."

"Then, proceed."

The screen turned off abruptly signifying the end of the update. Lien took another moment to take a breath of the fresh salt water sea. It was so beautiful, she thought. Blue waves crashed against the rocks violently, but majestically. She remembered days like this in her childhood where she would go to the beach with her family.

Life was...different then. There was definitely a lot less gunfire, that was for sure. Instead there was more laughter. Oh what she wouldn't give to here her little brother laugh again. Before her emotions could get any deeper, her wrist vibrated violently, causing her light pain.

And as if someone had hit a switch, she turned around to see Xu running up to her. "Report," Lien said flatly as if she had only just been talking to Norg the entire time and not reflecting on brighter days of her childhood.

"The area is clear ma'am."

"Good. We will head to Balamb in a few hours. That is our destination. We are to travel on foot. When we arrive there, we will rendezvous with a team and terminate target Dincht. That is where he is headed I'm sure of it."

"How are you so sure?" Xu dared to challenge.

"I threatened his mother during his examination, remember? Where would you go?"

Xu nodded her understanding. The pilot finally looked up from his hand-held device. "Location-wise we are on an island completely aligned with the Galbadian D-District Prison. The closest town is Dollet, it will take several days to get there by foot. From there we can take the train straight into Balamb."

When the pilot was done explaining, Lien smiled that sweet-as-candy smile and said, "Very good, pilot. Your services are no longer of use to me." Xu's eyes grew wide as she watched Lien raise her wrist in the man's direction. She saw him become rigid with petrification as Lien continued, " I was told by Norg himself to travel lightly. So I'm sure you will understand," she was smiling the whole time her wrist began to glow a bright violent green.

"Wait! No! You can't!" he begged for his life but it was too late.

**ZAP!**

Xu felt herself jump and heard herself gasp in horror as the man melted right where he stood only a few inches away from her. The green energy was so hot it had liquified him creating a horrid stench.

The beam of green light ended and Lien said to her subordinate, "Let's go, Xu. We've got a target and a fugitive to kill."

-TBC

**A/N: Wow such a long chapter! Filled with plenty of SeiferxZell character development! I feel so bad for Laharl. Losing people left and right. First Squall, and now Nida...or is Nida really dead? Meh...I love those long stretches where Nida just goes missing and no one knows where he is, then his character just pops back up and develops even more. They definitely should have ****done more with him in the game. Well leave me feedback, Love you guys xoxoxo**


	28. Control Over Truth

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references. Lemons, lime.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, + other minor pairings**

**A/N: More SeiferxZell growth in here again! There is even a small sex scene! 0.o. I'm so overwhelmed that I am finally writing the parts that I've had planned in my head for months that I could just*AHHHHH***

**ahem anyway. Just wanted to let all of you know that this story has reached its 18000th hit. Whoo-hooo! We are all so badd-ass for reading this story!**

**Also, I have good news! I'm going to Chicago this summer for a model and acting competition/workshop. I'm going to get signed and booked possibly. Isn't that just so awesome!? I'm so excited!**

**Well have fun reading this! Lots of character revealment here and story progress. Oh yes we love dat story progress XP**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 28: Control Over Truth**

**Laharl and Comfor****t **

"So," Laharl began. "When we get to Trabia, do you think it will be difficult for us to get into the main castle?"

"About that ..when we get there try not to say too much. You don' speak Trabian as it is and you're a foreigner too. Jus' lemme do all da talkin'," Comfort explained.

"Does the country of Trabia not speak both English and Trabian?"He asked curiously.

"Well, yeah. But it'll be easier for both of us if we use diplomacy-ya know? Negotiate in da native tongue."

"Hmm. Perhaps you're right." the more he talked with her, the more he realized how smart she was. This Comfort person was no mere servant. She had education not just when she spoke her (broken) English, but also in the classical arts when it came to her dancing, he remembered.

But still. She was just a normal person of Trabia. Exactly how difficult would it be to request an audience with the royal family? The violet haired vampire had a feeling that it wouldn't just be difficult, it could get dangerous and even bloody. He would be prepared to defend himself even though Trabia was a so-called "Ally" of Esthar.

They had entered the city of Dollet as quietly as they could and made their way through the golden sidewalks straight to the marina. Here is where the sea vessels were-ones that shipped to Trabia, Balamb, F.H. and various other places with Harbor towns.

As they walked though, Laharl noticed people were staring at them. He slowly kept his hand close to his bow just in case, but then he realized that it wasn't _he_ whom they were staring at, but Comfort.

"It's my clothing," she explained simply. And it was true. Her clothes were putting everyone on edge for some reason. And this fact had been proven when they reached the docks.

"Oh M-ma'am!" the young man who was in charge of getting passengers safely on board and taking tickets had almost pissed his pants when the pair had approached him with their tickets. He had told them that it wasn't necessary for the military to pay for transportation, and that they would be refunded immediately.

Laharl and Comfort never had a chance to tell the truth: that she was only wearing that ridiculous uniform because she had no choice and that she meant them no harm and she was willing to pay full price for her ticket like everyone else, but it was hard to ignore the look in the man's eye. Fear. He had acted like Comfort was going to burn the city down if he didn't treat them like royalty or something.

He really shocked and confused them both with what he asked next. "How many more of you guys are there?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Laharl thought he meant vampires at first but-

"Galbadian army officials," he explained. "A couple already passed through earlier. Soldiers and an official like yourself, ma'am. Your friend right?"

"Was she a white woman?" Comfort asked bluntly but with a hint of panic.

"Well, yes of course...Ma'am," he answered.

But just to be certain, "Was she wearing one of these!?" she held up her arm.

"Yes, ma'am."

Laharl and Comfort both looked at each other, worry in their eyes.

"They've been here already," Laharl said. "Comfort, we have to hurry!"

**Zell**

He ran through the woods as fast as he could! There was no time to look back to see how fast they had caught up to him, that would guarantee himself getting caught and then he would be dead for sure. S.E.E.D. was coming and they were coming quickly! Seifer was probably dead by now-He couldn't protect Zell like he said he could.

"He's over here!" he heard that woman's evil voice call. Dammit! A few yards away, he saw what looked like a good hiding spot. It was a small cabin in the woods. Maybe someone could be home. Someone could help him! It was worth the risk!

Without thinking, he pressed the door and barged in, a bright light overtook everything around him and swallowed him into a new environment, but the scenery he walked into was not what he had expected. Still sweaty and out of breath, he looked around at his new clean and beautiful surroundings. Plush carpets with big staircases, and a beautiful diamond chandelier hanging above him. He had made his way into none other than the entrance hall of the Loire Kingdom...but how?

Conflicts of emotions and confusion arose within him. He was supposed to be heading to his mother's house! But somehow he ended up in the wrong direction. Loire Kingdom was backtracking!

"Quickly! I think he went through here!" She was closing in on him, and the sound of clinking guns and loud footsteps against the crunchy November leaves made their way towards him. Without thinking about it, his small body pushed the new double doors shut with all his might and he even let out a small grunt before he put the big locks into place.

He had done so just in time! He could hear them trying to break it open, but these doors belonged to the Estharian vampires-good luck getting in, he thought with a smirk. He was finally back in his kingdom. He needed to warn the people he ruled over, but where was everyone? The Hall was completely deserted except for the sound of his own hard breathing and the loud banging behind him.

The banging on the doors behind him had disappeared once his attention was completely focused on the quiet atmosphere of the room he was in and it was replaced with music. Soft, classical and beautiful melodies. It was coming from the ballroom. The small blond's legs seemed to carry him without his control. He just headed towards the music across the clean carpet.

Strangely, he did not track any dirt in from the forest. Once he made his way to the doors that led to the ballroom, he could hear the music becoming louder and louder through the oak doors. Whatever it was, he'd have to interrupt it and gather soldiers together. S.E.E.D. just _had_ to be defeated! And this was a perfect home-field advantage.

He opened the doors and blinding light not only hit him, but it enveloped him as well. Carrying him inside, he could still hear the music, loud as ever now. He knew it was waltz music as soon as he was completely surrounded by it. It was bringing back happy memories that had him now on the brink of tears.

He couldn't see his own hand in front of his face until the light finally faded. Looking around, he saw people, food, wine, and drinks. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. They were waltzing and others conversed contently on the sidelines. Vampire children were still children, they ran around and played tag with each other getting their dress clothes all dirty while their parents continued dancing and sipping wine.

Everyone was dressed so fancy in extravagant ballgowns, and tuxedos. Zell blushed at his under-dressed self-wait a minute...He looked down at his feet. He was wearing the most expensive pair of shiny mens heeled dress shoes he'd ever seen. Accompanied by a body hugging suit he recalled only wearing once in his life. The day of his wedding.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Irvine ran up to him dressed up in a fringed black suit looking dazzling as ever. Zell stared at him open mouthed. "Ellie, there you go making that silly face again. Get over your shock already. You're married now!"

"Give him some space!" a cheery voice came from behind the cowboy. Selphie grabbed Zell's hand and dragged him off from Irvine.

"Selphie? What the hell?" Zell began.

"I know someone who wants to see you!" she sang melodically to the background music. Suddenly he felt her hand disappear from around his wrist as he met face to face with one person he never thought he'd see again.

"Ready?" Squall asked. He stood there, powerful as ever with a pale open palm extended to his one true human love. Again, without thinking, Zell took his hand.

With his smaller human hand in his, Zell was led to the dance floor. Squall grabbed Zell's small waist and guided him around the ballroom just like he was supposed to. "You're mine," he whispered into the boy's ear. Not knowing why this was happening, or how, Zell's eyes over flooded with tears and they traveled down his face and down his husband's shoulder. This was happiness. He was so glad to see Squall alive again. "Crybaby," Squall teased.

"Shut up," Zell replied with a goofy chuckle.

"I need you," he said more definitely this time. They stopped in the middle of the floor staring into each others eyes. Squall looked at him with hot desire, but Zell blushed and said, "...but our guests-"

"Can wait," Squall finished for his smaller husband who talked too much. After the feeling of deja vu had finished circling his senses, he was then led away somewhere private, away from prying eyes. An intimate matter like this needed to be settled between Zell and Squall only.

On the way to take care of their business, Zell noticed a group of men standing off to the side. Laharl, Nida, Laguna and his many body guards. They all looked like they were ready for battle. Like something was coming. He didn't care about any battles! He just wanted to spend this time with Squall before he could slip through his fingers.

Squall led Zell towards a door and when he opened it, that same blinding white light enveloped them both and when Zell crossed over and the light faded, he was in a bedroom...in front of a mirror...in nothing but Squall's oversized dress shirt.

In the mirror. Mellenia was wearing the same thing as Zell, but of course he was covered in streaks of blood.

"Get out," Zell warned.

Mellenia usually ALWAYS had something to say back to Zell. But not this time. He just smirked, turned around and disappeared into the far reaches of the mirror. Zell's reflection turned back to his normal clean and completely human self.

"What are you doing over there?" Squall's voice was heard from across the room and behind Zell.

He looked over and saw Squall passed out and exhausted on the mattress, the covers covering up the "good parts" of his body, which the boy knew all too well and missed oh so much.

"That was...amazing," the words escaped Squall's lips. "Stop goofing around and get back over here."

Without any warning or any hesitation, Zell pounced on his husband straddling his thighs and wiggling his own body into Squall's. He kissed his lips and gyrated his hips into his husband at the same time. "Again," Zell demanded.

"Okay okay. Take it easy," Squall laughed. "You know I don't stop until at least number six." Zell blushed at the truth in Squall's words.

Still slick with white cum, Zell eased him self down steadily onto his husband's tool. "Uhhhhnn!" Zell moaned with pleasure, but Squall immediately tensed and did his job as a man. As he laid on his back, Squall grabbed Zell's hips on either side, letting him know he was right here underneath him, and that he wasn't going anywhere. Zell began riding Squall with every thrust and the Prince's hands guided his lover up and down easily at first. But then it had become so intense that Zell threw his head back in ecstasy exposing the veins in his neck to the man underneath him.

When he opened his eyes and bent his head down to look at his lover again, he was shocked at what he saw. Squall Leonheart had disappeared without a trace, and in his place laid Seifer Almasy. "No!" Zell cried with horrified pleasure, but yet he just kept on riding the man.

"Say it again, Chicken," Seifer said through sensual grunts. Seifer had begun bucking his hips upward so that his thickness would go as deep as it could inside the small tight blond and his grip on Zell's hips was unrelenting. "I wanna hear you deny me while you fuck yourself on top of me. Stop pretending like you don't want this-you know you do."

Zell had no control over himself. In his mind he was betraying Squall, he was having sex with another man right in Squall's bed. What happened!? His husband was here just a minute ago! "Uhhhn-no!" Zell moaned as he continued riding Seifer.

"Fuck! I'm gonna come!" the taller blond said as he rolled Zell over on his back and began fucking the shit out of his smaller body.

"Uhn-Uhn-Uhnnnn!" Zell was practically loving every minute of having hot wet, rough sex with this man that he hated, and he couldn't do anything to stop it! But the question was: If he could stop it, would he?

"Fuuck!" Seifer repeated as he blasted cum completely inside Zell's body. "I'm coming!" he said.

"They're Coming! Run!" Someone had burst through the door just then. Zell craned his neck to see Comfort standing across the room from them, eyes wide with horror.

"Comfort!" Zell shrieked. "It's not what it looks like! I had no choice!"

"Nevermind that!" she said. She was wearing her black and yellow body suit and it was covered in blood. Her hi-heel boots were tracking blood as she stepped further into the room. "Look out!" she warned.

Zell followed Comfort's gaze with his eyes. She had indicated danger at the man right above him. Seifer was just finishing emptying himself into Zell and when he raised his head to look at Zell's face his green eyes looked peaceful and somber one minute. "Chicken," he said. But the next minute they were cold and devoid of any pleasure or emotion. He had turned into that woman. Everything about Seifer changed into her except for his eyes. They seemed to keep the same green gaze.

"It's time to say 'goodnight'," she sneered evilly as she broke off a wooden piece of the bed frame.

"No!" Zell screamed deafeningly before she killed him. He never even had a chance to defend himself, for he had just finished making love to two strong men. She rammed the blunt object straight into his heart and Zell Dincht died instantly.

**Seifer**

He was caught off guard when Zell had began twitching, moaning, and screaming all in under five seconds. The boy had shook himself so hard he had thrown himself completely off of Cerberus and rolled in the dirt not bothering to move or pick himself up. He just laid there, face down in the grass.

"Shit." Seifer halted Cerberus and quickly jumped off, rushing to Zell's side. He bent beside him and saw that he was out cold but he was still breathing. Seifer grabbed him up and set his still sleeping body into his lap. He shook him and shook him, but he wasn't budging.

Thankfully, he was beginning to open his eyes slowly. When he realized Seifer was staring down at him in concern, he bolted and scooted away several meters as though he were the plague. "Well it's nice to know you can still function," Seifer remarked a little coldly.

"What happened?" Zell asked groggily as he attempted to stand to his feet.

"You had some kind of nightmare, spazzed out and fell off of Cerberus. I couldn't catch you in time, so I just let you fall." Zell glared at him evilly, making Seifer change his words. "Okay I didn't really let you fall, it was just too late to do anything about it."

As if remembering something shocking, Zell tried his best to walk normally towards the flying vampire. "You sure you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'll just stay awake the rest of the way to Winhill. I didn't mean to fall asleep, sorry."

"There's no need. We're here." Seifer gestured to the quiet village behind him. Zell squinted to see it in the distance."

"What time is it?" Zell asked.

"It's five thirty. Right before sundown. Come on let's get going."

"Okay," Zell muttered softly before he climbed back on top of Cerberus.

They had finally made it to Whinhill. The first thing Seifer noticed about the place was how quiet it was. That's what the town was known for: Staying out of wars and being neutral. Peace and harmony and farming were all familiar traits for Winhill. The pair had passed many ranches on the way to the small Inn where they'd be staying.

Before they even set foot inside the quiet town, they made sure to send Cerberus off into the night.

"We'll only be here for one night," Seifer explained to his four-legged companion. The beast nuzzled Seifer's face with affection.

"Stop that, you big goof ball." Seifer was clearly enjoying the affection he received from Cerberus. At first, Zell stood to the side watching in disgust as the man he hated with a passion and his pet exchanged. But when he saw Seifer laugh and chuckle and be gentle with Cerberus like that he almost got caught smiling sweetly at the two.

"I need you to hide for the night. Feel free to kill as many birds as you want. BIRDS ONLY. I mean it. No cows or horses. We're in a farming town and it won't go unnoticed. Meet us in front of the other town gate on the opposite side of Winhill in the morning, okay?"

The beast whinnied, understanding what its master wanted and took off into the night sky.

**-Several minutes later-**

"What do you mean there's only one room available?" Zell asked in horror at the front desk of the tavern Inn.

"I'm sorry, sir. All the other rooms are booked by travelers such as yourself. Ever since that missile crisis took place, lots of people have been passing through here, trying their best to get away from the military base as well as the missile base," the woman at the desk explained.

"Well that's just great," Zell said sarcastically. It was one problem after another every place he went. And it was partially his fault that he wouldn'thave a place to sleep now.

"And besides," the woman continued. "Don't you want to spend your special night with your husband?"

"What?" Zell cocked his head to the side.

"Well of course you two are married, correct?" she gestured Seifer who was standing a few inches behind Zell off of his shoulder. "You've come just in time too. I have the perfect honey moon suite avail-"

Zell could hear her voice, but couldn't believe the shit that was coming out of this woman's mouth.

You've got to be fucking kidding me...

_Yay!_ Mell cheered.

Zell's energy had been practically drained and he didn't even bother to argue another word when he heard Seifer behind him say the words, "We'll take it!"

**Laharl**

Comfort had fallen asleep on his shoulder. She must have been exhausted, he figured. She had been through a series of fights and an airship battle no less than 12 hours ago _and_ had traveled ALL the way to Dollet without resting. She had a lot of stamina for a Hume, which made him think about Zell.

Thinking of Zell only made him feel failure as a vampire. And when he thought of failure, he thought of Nida and how he had completely _failed _to save both Squall, Zell _and _Nida. He couldn't do anything for a single one of them. Zell was his last chance to redeem himself as a worthy warrior because he was the only one living...for now...

The device on her arm drained his traveling companion quite often, he noticed. Especially when she was trying to focus her thoughts on one particular thing he could hear it vibrating and beeping, making her focus shift on something else. He had eventually began hoping that once they were both situated in her country, she would be able to focus on her own problems.

The speedy jet boat had docked at a small docking town. They immediately skipped through it as quickly as they could to avoid more attention from Comfort's attire. By nightfall, they were in they were finally completely in Trabia and the steps that led to the Kingdom were visible.

They had stopped at the foot of the massive stone steps that were carved intothe body of the mountain on the edge of the city. "That's a lot of steps," Laharl stated unenthusiastically as he tried . Comfort had been with him long enough to notice when his tone was becoming annoyed and she knew he was dreading climbing and he was probably too tired to vampire jump. "Well let's get going," he said while preparing to take an infinite climb. In Esthar they had trams to take people to and from the city and castle.

"Wait," Comfort stopped him. He turned around looking at her expectantly.

"What?"

"You think we climb these steps?" she asked cockily. As if on cue, behind her appeared a large yellow bird. The shape of it's body held a rooster, but it's legs were thick and muscular like an ostrich, with sharp talons at the bottom of its feet. It was more than just a steed. It was golden and one of the most magnificent things Laharl had ever seen in his life.

"Is that a-a," he had become embarrassingly dumb founded by its presence.

Comfort chuckled at his articulation. "Haven't ya ever seen a chocobo befo'?" she asked.

"Not up close," Laharl said dumbly. Trabians were turning out to be more surprising than he expected.

Comfort put her heeled foot into the saddle and climbed on top of the oversized bird. She looked at Laharl who was still in awe. "What are you waiting for?" she asked. "This is the fastest ride around. Hop on."

He climbed onto the bird nervously and wrapped his arms around Comfort's slim waist. The golden feathers of the chocobo were so soft! "You might wanna wear dis'," she offered him a helmet that had been attached to the bird's saddle. Without hesitation. Laharl took it and fastened it to his head.

"Ready?" she asked nonchalantly

He nodded, obviously too scared to talk.

With two gentle kicks into the chocobo's side, the massive bird took off with a loud "KWWEHHH!" wind hit Laharl's face without mercy as the bird practically flew to the top. All he could think about was how thankful he was that his hair was tied back and also how wrong his perception of Trabians were.

**Zell**

They entered the cozy warm honeymoon suite. Zell was relieved to finally see a bed and comfortable furniture. The room seemed to have everything that they would need for a night's stay. The only thing it was missing was a television. But no matter, Zell could just sleep to occupy the next few hours. Lord knew he needed sleep in a bed that wasn't in a high-security lab/prison.

"Huge ass bed," Seifer commented as he cracked his neck that had become stiff from riding Cerberus.

"Yeah, too bad it's only big enough for one of us," Zell replied coldly.

Seifer sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't you think you're being a little immature?"

"Fuck no!" Zell had blown up and answered a little too quickly. "I'll sleep on the floor if I have too!" he shot. "You're not sleeping in the same bed as me, Seifer!" Without waiting for even the possibility of a reply, Zell stormed off into the bathroom and locked the door behind himself.

He came in here not only to be away from the other man, but to clean his body and prepare for bed. A decent shower is _also _something he had been missing dearly. As he ran the hot water and stepped into the tub, various thoughts raced across his mind, and he was interrupted by a familiar visitor.

He still could not wrap his head around the dream that he had had. The dream that had turned into a complete nightmare. First he had started off being chased by S.E.E.D.-well that was understandable. Zell's life was in danger, so of course he'd dream of the most immediate threat first. Then he was back at Loire Kingdom, where Irvine was strutting around like there wasn't a bounty on his head and where he'd seen Selphie even though he should not have. She didn't belong there, but that was just a minor detail...

Also, there was Squall. That was the part that was his favorite, and the part that he loved even more was reliving sex with him again. His touch, smell, everything felt so real! He knew he had caught a glimpse of Mellenia in his dream too, but this didn't shock Zell that much because it wasn't the first time he had dreamt about Mellenia. In fact, he was getting used to seeing his identical demon in his dreams, he would just address that issue with Mell one-on-one later, he decided.

And then, Zell got goosebumps on his skin when he thought about the next part of his dream. This is where the shit hit the fan and where his dream turned back into a nightmare. Seifer, Zell thought distastefully.

Squall had been making sweet love to Zell one minute and the next, he had been doing it with Seifer in the most horrible and whorish way. Zell felt disgusted with himself at even feeling pleasure at what he'd experienced in his dream. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't real and hadn't really happened, but Mell's attraction was making him think and feel weird things towards the man. This included what happened not moments ago. Why did Zell react the way he did when Seifer proposed the idea of them sleeping together in the same bed? Even Zell had to admit that that was a bit over dramatic even for himself...and that was saying a lot...

He killed your husband, he told himself. Squall is never coming back. Seifer is the reason why you're even in this mess. He ruined your life right after graduation. There were so many things to hate about the vampire.

_Don't you remember you hated Squall at first too..._

Zell jolted at the voice inside of himself. Get out of my head, you've been doing a good job at keeping your distance lately, he told Mellenia.

_I can hear you making yourself crazy on my side of the body, so I thought I'd just drop by and help you out a little bit to clear up a few of your blonde-thoughts._

Don't call me a blonde! You're blonde too, you bitch.

_Minor details-anyway I guess I owe you an explanation since it was my fault you had that dream in the first place._

So it was your fault? I figured as much, there's no way I would dream of something like that on my own...

_Ohhh, do not even go there! You and I SHARED that dream. As in we created it together. They were BOTH of our thoughts._

Okay you lost me...

_Stupid...okay S.E.E.D and the fear you felt from them and that bitch who is hunting you, that was BOTH of our memories, but all YOUR fear, since I'm not the one who is afraid of them...well...not nearly as much as you are anyway. Then there was the wedding, that was all YOUR memories and YOUR desires to relive your most recent happy moment, which-don't get me wrong I DID understand, but you and I are sharing this body and brain now so when you and your dead husband started getting freaky, it was like watching a train-wreck so I had to change the scenery._

A train wreck...really? Zell asked annoyance clearly in his thought-speak. You couldn't just leave me alone and let me relive sleeping with someone who I miss? Who I'm grieving over? You just had to go and change shit didn't you? Zell had become furious with finding out that Mellenia interrupted his wet-dream.

_Well, like I said...I never really cared for Squall-you already knew that, so surely you can understand why I switched him out with Seifer. Seifer is just so bad-ass and just...yummy and all types of mmmm._

Stop it, your going to make my morning sickness come early...all over this shower curtain.

_Anyway Squall was once again: YOUR memory and YOUR pleasure, you were having all the fun, so I changed Seifer into MY desire and BOTH of our pleasure._

You could've just kept ALL the pleasure to yourself when you switched out the guys though, I didn't want to be a part of that! Zell shouted at Mell.

_Hmmm I COULD have_, Mell began unapologetically _But it was much more fun letting you experience the pleasure too. And from what we both felt, it wasn't like you hated it..._

SHUT UP! Zell screamed at Mell angrily.

_Do you hear that? That's the sound of Denial. Tee hee._

You're pure fucking evil...

_Tell me something I don't already know. Anyway back to our dream-here's the part where you started thinking of S.E.E.D. again and hot and delicious Seifer turned into the deadly evil bitch that has been tormenting you all this time. It was YOUR fear and YOUR Memory._

Zell didn't reply to Mell immediately. He was focused on his own recount of that particular part of the nightmare. The eyes, Zell said to Mell.

_Eyes? What eyes?_

Didn't you notice. I didn't pay attention before, but I knew there was a resemblance. Didn't you ever notice how Seifer and that woman chasing me have the exact same eyes?

Mellenia was also quiet for a while before saying, _Hmmmm. Now that you mention it I DID notice, but it doesn't matter-she comes anywhere near us. She's dead. Trust me when I say: when that Seifer guy says things, I can tell when he really means it. His energy goes crazy and I get super horny._

Okay, Mellenia. Calm your ass down. Too much information.

_I'm just saying. Which brings me to my final point: You may be having feelings of attraction towards Seifer because of lil ol' me and all, but stop fooling yourself. You can't deny your feelings forever. You will go crazy. And I don't care how strong willed you THINK_ _you are, no one-Man or woman-can resist vampire pregnancy urges._

Okay, you've helped enough. Now leave!

_Fine, I'm going to sleep. But don't be surprised if you find yourself in bed with a certain God-like green eyed vampire. Hahahahaha._

Zell heard Mell's chuckling fade away as he retreated in the far reaches of Zell's mind. He made a note to himself, as soon as he got the chance, he was going to get psychiatric evaluation, he and Mell could not share the same body forever. It simply just wasn't going to work out...

He walked quietly back into the room after he dried himself off. Surprisingly, Zell saw Seifer curled up on the floor beside the bed. Zell stopped dead in his tracks as he watched the man sleep. He must have been exhausted to fall asleep that fast and in that position**...**

Zell tip-toed around Seifer while he slept. When he climbed into bed, he turned the light off that the man had left on. He had respected Zell's wishes and slept on the floor, right underneath Zell.

Zell turned his back away from the sleeping man underneath him and tried to get some sleep because tomorrow would be treacherous. But as luck would have it, that didn't work. Luckily, the curtains weren't completely drawn and streetlamps from outside illuminated the small honeymoon suite with just enough light to make out everything clearly even in the dark.

Zell rolled over on his side quietly and carefully looked over the edge of the large bed that had obviously been built for two people. He stared down at Seifer's sleeping form curled up on the floor. He looked really uncomfortable, Zell thought as he looked at his scrunched up body with his boots still on.

He did all that just to make sure Zell was safe, and here he was warm and comfortable in this big-ass bed that he had initially complained about. He wouldn't stop hating Seifer, but the boy still knew when he was acting like a selfish brat. Without being able to control his body, he climbed out of bed again and took one of his sheets off of his bed and covered Seifer with it. Then as a bonus, he began untying the man's boots and taking them off. He placed Seifer's leather-skin combat boots neatly in a corner.

There! Zell was pleased with himself. The man looked much more comfortable and protected from the chilly November night weather. It was the least he could do since there was no way in hell Zell was sleeping on the floor and if Seifer valued his nuts, he wouldn't be climbing in bed either...

Before Zell fully fell asleep, he heard Mell say in a sing-song voice, _"If you really ha_t_ed him you WOULDN'_T have done that..."

Zell was way too exhausted from the battles, running around, and traveling to tell his demon half to shut the fuck up and go to sleep, and before he knew it, he passed out.

**Xu**

It didn't take the pair of survivalists much time to find a safe enough spot in the middle of a forest to camp out at. Small and isolated was all that they needed. They were only halfway outside of Balamb. They would invade-or arrive- in the small town by tomorrow afternoon.

Once Xu had gathered firewood, Lien easily struck it to life with a green flame from her wrist. They would have to keep it burning all night if they didn't want to freeze from the cold November winds.

"Did Norg say anything else?" Xu asked suddenly while the two women sat on opposite sides of the fire, both staring at its captivating dance while they spoke. Lien had decided to disclose the orders that Norg had given her.

Lien took a few moments to answer. She seemed to be having a one-one one with the green flames before she said, "I tried to get him to tell me more about Dincht, it didn't work. He said it was classified information."

"Well what do you think?" Xu boldly asked.

This was another thing that Lien admired about her "apprentice". She was never afraid to challenge her superior, or speak her mind no matter how bold. It also helped that she hardly meant any disrespectwhen it came to her questions.

"I think..." she could feel her weapon constricting itself around her arm tightly, reminding her of its presence and the control it had over her free-thought. Quickly she changed her answer, "I think we both have a job to do. And if Norg truly believes Dincht is a threat, then that is what _we_ should believe, also. After all...a target is a target. And I never saw any reason to spare the life of a demon that overstepped its boundaries."

"Do you think that knowing the person before they become a demon would affect your decision?" Xu asked. She continued more specifically when Lien finally took her eyes of of the dancing green flames and onto her Asian subordinate. "If you saw only Dincht's kind side, the one where he is really dumb and polite and would never hurt a fly, but still carried a vampire inside him, and you had never seen his powers before, would you still hunt him simply based on his current pregnancy status?"

She saw the shadow of the green flames dance across her superiors face as she sat silently in thought. Resolutely she finally said, "They all deserve to die Xu." Every shape, every form. The bottom line is that the world would simply be a better place if they were all just wiped out." Then, with a hint of exhaustion she said, "Get some sleep," and laid down preparing herself to sleep.

She had watched her superior over the years. Commander Almasy's tone had always been cold and commanding, without emotion most of the time, for fear of showing vulnerability. But her eyes...there was just something about her eyes at this moment. Xu noticed that they held genuine sadness that just couldn't be masked. "I see," Xu simply replied.

Xu stayed in her upright position for a while before laying down. Surely no one was one hundred percent evil, were they? And as for who lives and who dies, who was she to decide that? There was good in Zell, she knew, but there was also evil. But she knew his good outweighed his vampire urges.

Just like she was sure there was more good rather than evil within herself. So much was on her mind...she was only exhausting her already worn out mind thinking about it. So she slept, already knowing that this topic would be nagging at her ALL day tomorrow.

-TBC

**A/N: I know, I know. And I'm sorry. Each and every one of you readers is waiting for a particular something to happen. You are either waiting for Lien and Seifer to meet, Laharl and Nida to reunite, or Squall and Zell to see each other again. Also all of the SeiferxZell fans are dying to see what will happen between Zell, Mell and Seifer. Be patient everyone I wanna get there too just as much as you do but this wouldn't be a good story without at least some type of build up and/or character development lol.**

**REVIEW!**

**BTW I think this is the shortest chapter I've written in a LONG time**


	29. Unannounced Visitor Unwelcome Sensation

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**by Lawchan**

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references. Lemons, lime.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, + other minor pairings**

**A/N: I have been busy...yes that is what I will say. SeiferxZell fans will LOVE this chapter...it is getting heavier and heavier between them. Anyway...**

**I'd like to give a huge special birthday shout out to one of my readers: MICHAEL EWING! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIRE-SPINNER!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 29: Unannounced Visi****tors, Unwelcome Sensations**

**-Back to the Day of the Battle on S.E.E.D. Tower.-**

**Irvine**

After strategically leaping off of that tall tower with over one hundred stories worth of air rushing at him, crashing into the frigid ocean water and blindly swimming to find his way to any type of land he could find-in this case being a small remote island several miles south of the battle site, he turned over on his back and watched the horizon as the beautiful sun blared down on him.

It was like a huge battle had not even just happened only moments ago. He was alive...after getting Zell and the others to safety, he was sure he would have been killed by the king of Loire Castle, but he was alive...and he just couldn't believe it...he couldn't believe he saved Zell, and he was still breathing-of course it would have been much better if he could just see Zell.

But how much longer could he stay like this? He sat up in the cool sand and attempted to catch his breath. His muscles were sore from swimming for miles. What was next? Where was he? The F.L.A.R.E communications device in his ear hadn't functioned ever since he had been in the S.E.E.D. facility. He had had to dispose of his communicator anyway; he would've been easily traceable by S.E.E.D. computers if he kept it in his ear any longer, since after all F.L.A.R.E _was _a subcategory of S.E.E.D.

With "soldier mode" kicking in, Irvine prepared himself to look around the small island for resources, but his combat instincts kicked in as well when he heard a faint sound just beyond some wild shrubbery. At first he thought it might have been just a bird, but then he heard the sound more distinctively.

-**Cough**-

Someone else was here...quickly pulling out his gun, he noted that he only had six bullets left. He would have to make them last! He aimed his weapon and stepped silently towards the source of the disturbance, water sloshing around in his wet combat boots as he walked.

**-Cough-**

He stood on the other side of the shrubbery. Without anymore hesitation, he jumped through and aimed his weapon at-

"Nida?"

There he lay. Sprawled out in the sand like a wounded animal. The soaking Asian, lifted his head slightly and looked Irvine dead in the eye.

"Irv-" the cowboy rushed to his best friend's aide immediately propping him up with his arm. The skin on one side of his face was completely charred. Irvine could tell immediately that the boy was on the brink of death.

"Can you move? Are you hurt? I have to inspect you," he rushed the words out quickly assessing the situation and going into the "medical mode" that he had been trained in for years.

"I'm fine," Nida muttered weakly, clearly lying.

Irvine stopped and looked at his face. He seemed completely drained.

"You don't look fine to me..."

"I'm just tired is all...I need..." the weak looking Asian boy looked away from his best friend's gaze immediately as if ashamed of something. He was exhausted because he had been blasted off of the S.E.E.D tower only hours ago by that woman, and cheated death by swimming against the tide all the way here to this remote island by himself with no help from anyone. He was in desperate need of-

"Tell me," Irvine demanded slightly shaking his partner of over 2 years of college and extensive combat training. The situation wasn't normal. "Tell me what you need!" Irvine had already made up his mind in abandoning his mission and tracking down his partner Nida. It didn't matter which particular side they were on right now, Irvine thought as he remembered that Nida _was _helping the Esthar Fleet atone point. All that mattered was that Nida was still alive and that he needed his partner, more importantly he needed his best friend. Irvine would be there for him no matter what.

"I need.." Nida began as he tried to find the courage to say what he needed.

"Just name it. I'll do anything, partner." Irvine vowed with all his might that he would not judge him through his words.

"A heart," Nida said.

"What?"

"A warm, bloody beating delicious heart. I need to eat someone," he cried desperately. Nida felt Irvine's body tense as he held him. "Are you still sure you'd be willing to do anything for your best friend, Irvine?"

**Laguna**

Jessie had made one hundred percent good judgment in retreating the Estharian army back to its base. Kiros and Ward exchanged glances with one another when their King wasn't looking, which had been the majority of the trip back to Esthar.

The king had fought so hard to exact his revenge on a teenage cowboy, that he was willing to put his own life at risk.

Another 12 hour flight back to the kingdom had The Estharian Fleet arriving back at their home in the middle of he night. Stepping off of the airship, the army was greeted with a warm welcome from their people. There was a parade going on for their safe return in the middle of the town square and looking at the horizon, Laguna noticed that the city of Esthar was bright with lights and music as well. He was in no celebrating mood, Laguna may have returned back safely with most of his best men still in one piece, but he still felt that he had not accomplished anything.

Zell was still lost only God knows where, his son had not been avenged at _all. _Not to mention, the man who had killed the former prince flew off into the bloody sunset with the second prince. All they had done was fight pointlessly. "It wasn't for nothing," Kiros said suddenly from Laguna's side as though he were reading his King's mind.

Laguna looked at the brown caramel colored man and then looked to his other side. The giant vampire Ward nodded his agreement with his partner. Jessie trailed behind the three royal members. "Some good did come of this," Laguna decided to conclude. "Zell is out of danger at least."

"The organization who had him definitely meant to kill him," Kiros added. "And you have to hand it to him; he must have been on the loose long enough for us to get there and cause a commotion. He may not be in our custody, but he's definitely out of danger."

"He is with the convict," Laguna corrected.

"Seifer Almasy will not hurt the prince, your Majesty," Kiros reassured. "He sees Zell as a tool for mating, at the very least he will make sure no immediate harm comes to him until he has satisfied his own personal needs with the boy."

"Nothing can happen as long as he still carries the seed of the late prince Leonheart," Ward boomed beside the two men.

The doors to the castle parted for the men as they entered their Foyer. "You two," Laguna addressed Kiros and Ward. "Patch yourselves up and get rest if you need it. Meet me in the conference room at 0300 hours.

"Yes, sir!" they both responded and parted from the King and Jessie. However, the last thing they needed was rest, what they _DID _need was a drink. No doubt they were going to go celebrate until the meeting. That is how soldiers relaxed.

Laguna addressed Jessie next when they were alone. "Well done in leading the fleet in the prince's absence," Laguna complimented him. Jessie bowed and remained silent eagerly awaiting his next task. "Find Laharl and tell him I wish to speak with him," he ordered as he remembered seeing the youth's airship in the final moments of the battle.

"Yes, sir!" Jessie turned on his heel to fetch Prince Laharl.

"Oh and Jessie..."

"Yes sir?" he stopped and answered the King.

"Find his companion as well. The Asian. I wish to speak with him as well."

"Affirmative, sir!"

**-Presen****t-**

** Leon**

After several days had gone by, he began to finally feel like a newly born teenager. Leon found himself finally adjusting to his new life and habitat in Balamb with Ma. He still remembered nothing from his past, but enjoyed the new memories he was making. Most days he just stayed home alone and occupied himself by cleaning the house until Cora got back from her job at some High School that she worked at.

Cora had been surprised the first day she came home to a spotless house. "Sweetheart, you didn't have to do that," she tried keeping her shocked tone as normal as possible as she walked in through the front door.

Leon stopped cleaning and looked up from his duties. "Oh I don't mind," he began nonchalantly. "Besides it's not like I have any way to repay you for letting me stay here."

"I already told you, helping you find your way doesn't require any form of payment. It's my job as a woman of Faith..." Cora wasn't adding the fact that she thought if she helped him, perhaps God would return her son to her. He was out there. And he was alive. She knew he was...

"Oh. Okay," Leon replied. He still didn't understand this whole Faith thing...

"Well, listen. I can't just have you cleaning all day while I'm at work. I'm pretty sure that's some for of slavery. Hmmm." She placed her chin between her thumb and index finger in thought before saying, "Why not come to work with me tomorrow?"

"Work? As in school?" he asked.

"Yes, Balamb High school," she specified. "I'm a counselor. That's what I do. If you came with me, I'm sure you would find the environment there interesting. There are people your age, and you won't have to spend the whole day alone."

"Okay. Sure, I'd love to go." It's not like he would have anything else to do and leon was a bout to realize that he much preferred being alone.

The next day Leon and Cora walked together towards Balamb High School early in the morning. Cora didn't own a vehicle, so they usually commuted by foot. Balamb is known for its quiet peaceful ocean breeze. Even during the winter months, which weren't that cold as it was in the other regions. The two of them only wore light jackets.

As they arrived closer and closer to the campus of the high school, Leon began to see just how huge the building was up close compared to far away. They began walking up he long pathway that led to the school. It was a large modern looking building with up-to-date windows and architecture. Of course, right now the yard was empty as well as it was silent, except for Leon and Cora and a handful of tardy students hurrying to get to class.

He learned that Cora didn't come in with the other students at normal time, being the guidance counselor meant that she was allowed to come in later than most people.

As they walked in together, the smell of paper, dungeon and torture hit his senses...well that's what he _expected_ the high school to smell like anyway...

The hallways were musky and large, with glass cases along the walls and pictures in gray and black. "Come along, Leon," Cora beckoned.

"Okay."

She led him to the main office, which he later found out led to other small offices. One of the offices belonged to Cora. He found out it was hers when she unlocked the door with her keys and he saw the picture of her son Zell sitting on her desk to the side of her computer.

"This is the Guidance Office," she explained as she removed her light jacket and placed her bag down.

"What exactly do you do here?"

"Well...I guide students of course."

"Guide them...where exactly?"

Cora smiled at his obliviousness warmly. Instead of going into a long confusing explanation, Cora simply grabbed a badge from out of her desk, handed it to Leon and said, "Here." He took the badge that said "visitor" and placed it around his neck. "See for yourself."

**Comfort and Laharl**

After finally reaching Fedoke Kingdom as well as the summit of the great climb, Laharl dismounted from his wild escort of a chocobo. While getting off, he realized how smelly of a creature this animal was and he hoped that the musk of the great bird wouldn't rub off on his expensive warrior clothing. Just because he was on and adventure didn't mean he had to smell like it...

Comfort dropped down as well and gave the bird a pat on the ribs and began (much to Laharl's shock) speaking to it in another language. The oversized yellow bird cocked its long neck showing its attentiveness to her words. After about three lines, the creature KWEHED! Loudly and trotted off into another direction.

"What did you tell it?" Laharl asked, smacking himself mentally when he realized he waited to speak until he was secure in the fact that the Chocobo was out of listening distance...

"I told him that he got faster since I last saw him, his feathers are getting long, and to help himself to some sweet greens-come on," she explained quickly and gestured towards the castle.

He followed behind her towards the large black caste iron gate, where two tall dark-skinned guards stood powerfully on either side of the sealed iron. Their armor was bronze colored and shimmered off of the setting sun. It was beautiful, Laharl thought. And their spears, they stood almost as proudly as they did and just as tall too, if not taller.

Laharl could tell that they were human immediately, however from the smell of their rich, sweet and strong warrior blood, he knew that the average vampire picking a fight with them would be incredibly stupid.

"Jonvehm," Comfort greeted respectfully to the two men. Then she continued in her own language some more and stopped when the two warrior-guards nodded their approval, without paying any attention to Laharl at all, they then moved in unison working together to push open the gate for Comfort.

When she started moving forward, Laharl continued to follow he-but a sudden movement from one of the guards made him pull out his crossbow with quick-as-lightning reflexes. "Nyet!" Comfort shrieked killing the sense of battle that immediately thickened within' the air. "En ve gan yee," she returned to her first language gesturing to Laharl and then to herself, explaining that Laharl was with her.

The tall guards relaxed their aimed spears, nodded once more and this time moved to the side once more to let them pass. As they went through, Laharl heard the loud iron slamming shut behind them. Comfort increased the speed of her pace, her heeled feet clicked against the gravel anxious to get all the way to the castle. Laharl took bigger steps to keep up with her. "You," she warned. "Nevah leave my side..."

Laharl was so out of his element right now. Chocobos, dark skin, foreign languages. He had truly become an outsider and Comfort was proving to be more civilized than him as of late...was she?

"Got it," he agreed.

**Zell and Seifer**

The short tattooed blond blond became extremely irate and automatically woke up cranky when he felt his big comfortable quilt being torn off of his body. "Rrrr?" he half shivered, half grunted from his clenched teeth.

"Wake up," a grumpy familiar voice ordered heartlessly.

"What the hell for?"

"We have to get an early start if we want to make it to Timber before sundown. If it gets dark, we'll have to stop and camp in the cold somewhere. The days are becoming too frigid for you-It _is _November after all." Blah blah blah was all Zell could comprehend this early in the morning. He just wanted to crawl back under the blanket that had been taken from him. Instead he tried to listen to Seifer go on and on about how the days were impossibly short now and how he couldn't afford for Zell to gets sick. Blah blah blah. Why couldn't Seifer just wake him up at the beginning of next spring?

The taller man walked around the room opening curtains and making all types of loud noises as he talked. Zell had finally gathered enough strength to sit up in the large bed and tried opening his eyes, but the sunlight made him shut them right away. "Argh!" he complained. He heard Seifer moving around him and from the sound of it it was like he was organizing dishes.

"What's that smell?"

"Breakfast-I said get up!"

Food? Like a true fat kid, Zell lifted his head and put up more of a fight to keep his heavy eyelids open. "Breakfast?" Seifer was only setting the small table of the other side of the honey-moon suite for one person, he noticed.

"Come out," Seifer replied, his tone becoming short of patience. With no more hesitation, Zell hopped out of the bed in only his underwear and a t-shirt, completely forgetting to put pants on and headed for the table. As he approached his plate of food, he was greeted with three eggs, four sausages, and two waffles with butter melting through the square grooves. Syrup was on the side as well as a flute of orange juice.

"All this for me?" he asked.

Seifer swallowed the lump in his throat before saying, "Eat every drop-and put some clothes on!" He sounded angry to Zell, but actually it was frustration. Sexual frustration. Zell _was_ in his underwear after all...

He didn't like being bossed around, but...there was food! And it looked absolutely delicious, hot and savory. All he could say was, "Okay." And he began eating. He had become so engrossed in the savory breakfast flavors that he didn't even notice Seifer leave the room.

After he finishing his breakfast, Zell began putting on his dusty overalls and washing his face. He scratched his head in confusion as he sat down on the bed. Even pregnant, Zell couldn't finish the big ass meal Seifer had set before him.

Something wasn't right. Seifer had seemed different this morning. It was like he was trying to avoid eye contact with Zell or something.

Why was he acting so weird?

_ Last night...when you were being all sweet with him...I think he was awake, _Mell explained intruding on Zell's thoughts.

Oh, Zell began distastefully. _You're_ awake?

_ Good morning!_

I though he was asleep!

_ He was only to pretending so he could avoid the awkwardness...which seems to be happening anyway..._

As though he were right on cue, Seifer came through the door to see Zell sitting on the bed deep in thought. What the hell was he concentrating on so hard? Seifer watched the boy stand up unnecessarily upon the man's entrance. "Did you eat?" he asked. Seifer stared at him in silence. "I saved you half of my breakfast." Seifer looked over at the table where Zell's half eaten breakfast was. "It was a bit much."

His vampire appetite didn't flinch at all at the sight off the delicious hot food. "I told you to eat everything," he said expressionlessly. Seifer returned his gaze back at Zell just in time to miss the boy's look of disappointment. Tension. So much of it was in the room for no reason... "Pregnant people finish meals."

He picked up the plate and began emptying the leftovers into the trashcan, making something shiny and bright inside of Zell turn to mushy poo that instant. "We need to get going. I've checked us out of the Winhill Inn, this little honey-moon is over."

Zell rolled his eyes at the man's back as Seifer continued to clean and organize belongings. "Fine," Zell said. "I'm ready." He was anxious to prove to Seifer that he could keep up on this journey, but he felt as though he hadn't gotten enough sleep. He could feel himself holding back vomiting as well.

_He knows your a weakling already, Zell. If he didn't he wouldn't be here right now._

I can be strong, I just have to try really hard.

_I already know you're strong, _Zell was actually listening to Mell speak as he watched Seifer finish up. _So don't even think about opening up to him...it'll just make things complicated. You're going to ruin his focus-or worse, get him killed._

That won't be such a bad thing, Zell replied automatically not sure if he even meant those words.

"Hey," Seifer called to the daydreaming boy as he held the door open. "Let's go."

_We'll see..._

**Laharl and Comfor****t**

"So should I keep my crossbow out?" he asked with one hundred percent seriousness. "Or will I be okay?" From the looks he was getting from various castle-folk, he wondered if he would be slayed at any given moment.

"Jus' stay close to me. I hate to have to admit this to you, but my people is a bit...um. How I say dis?"

"Racist?"

"Cautious," she corrected him with a bit of edge in her voice. "Trabians ain't racist," she explained. Dey jus' careful with people from the outside world. Even though we have an alliance with Esthar, you gotta admit. Most whites ain't too "hand-shaky" with us.

"If you guys continue to stay in this old way of thinking, you'll never evolve as a culture."

"Is dat why you request _our _art for _your_ events?" she shot at him as they grew closer towards the front doors of the Fedoke Castle.

"You're the best in what you do," Laharl admitted. "And we've always envied your arts, but don't get cocky."

"Really?"

"You're the best dancers and artists in the world, we need you for our festivals...it's true..."

"Thanks," she said solemnly.

They entered the kingdom in silence after gaining access through several more guards. All discussion of cultural differences came to a fading end. This was way different from Loire Kingdom, Laharl thought. There was no marble, but instead, "Sand?" he asked running his hand against the wall.

Somehow they had taken sand and manufactured it to a perfect surface that was neither stone nor glass. And there was no plush carpet, but instead there was REAL animal fur.

"What's the carpet made of?" he asked.

"When the chocobo's' feathers get too long, we put em to good use," was all she said.

Laharl was in awe by the beautiful palace with expensive antique artifacts and rich garnishments. He didn't have time to take it ALL in, but he did feel a slight envy towards the beautiful arts he saw. "where are we going?" he asked Comfort who seemed to know the whole layout of the castle.

"We're going straight to the gut of the castle. The main chamber."

"You mean where the King and Queen are?" Laharl's tone raised slightly with worry.

"Yeah."

"You can't just barge in there without an appointment, I'm sure you know that, right!?"

"Transportation, Communication, and negotiations. Ya need those, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then stop waistin' time with all these questions and trus' me." She made it clear that he needed to just have faith in her and do what she said as they made their way towards the Imperial Chamber. He just didn't understand. An appointment could take weeks, sometimes months. This girl was delusional if she thought she could get an audience right away. Laharl mentally prepared himself for a battle that he knew would be coming soon.

She was going to get them killed, he thought as he reached for his crossbow on the back of his waist. Trigger ready like a mother-fucker, Laharl succeeded in keeping up with Comfort's heeled strides. They were right outside the door that led to the chamber now.

She didn't think twice about knocking or stopping-Comfort barged right on in, pushing on the bejeweled handles of the door. "COMFORT!" Laharl shrieked.

He broke his focus and tried to move in front of her swiftly, but with very little ease, she over powered him and nudged him behind her. A tall black male warrior stood and began speaking aggressively in the native Trabian language. "Modum ha vous inkrudarde om El Royal Chamber!?" He brandished his spear as well as five other guards behind him once he quickly noticed that Laharl's weapon was out. He leapt over a podium like a jungle cat and got into a defensive stance with his overextended weapon.

"I want to speak with Mama and Papa!" Laharl didn't comprehend at first, even though Comfort had just spoken perfect English. Once the Trabian warrior processed the English sentence he squinted his eyes at Comfort and as soon as he recognized her he threw down his weapon by his own feet and kneeled to her respectfully. The warriors behind him did as well, making loud clanks ring through the Hall from spears being thrown on the ground.

"My apologies Princess," he responded with his eyes on the ground.

Laharl relaxed his body. Mama and Papa? Princess? "Princess!?" he blurted.

Comfort turned to look at her white vampire companion. "I told you my last name was Fedoke. Welcome to Fedoke Kingdom. I'm da princess," she explained under her breath.

"You didn't tell me-" he began, but then he realized his own stupidity. When she had first introduced herself, she _did _say her last name was Fedoke, and that she was from Trabia. It had been so obvious, but Laharl had been so distracted by his thoughts of failure and Nida that he hadn't successfully made the connection.

He'd been traveling with the princess of the Kingdom that he needed assistance from the whole time..."No fucking way," he sighed.

**Leon**

He had managed to sit through a total of three classes so far. Every time he entered a class, Leon showed the "visitor's pass" around his neck to the teachers of the classrooms and sat waaaayy in the back of the room for every single one of them like some sort of creepy visiting stranger. He really didn't want to be noticed by these other kids. They were loud, messy and a lot of the guys who played sports he could tell were a bit unintelligent and relied heavily on their fame as superstars. Apes, he thought as he rolled his eyes at them from his position in the back of the classroom.

He sat through a math lecture, history, and an English class. It was time for lunch now...thank God...

On his way to the cafeteria, a glass case along the wall in one of the hallways caught Leon's attention. There were trophies here with pictures of various teams from the school celebrating their victories. Impressive, he thought...

Then he saw the pictures of all of the clubs in the entire school. Chess team, robotics, Asian cinema club, veterinary club, and even a Christian club. He was in the middle of examining yearbooks when something in his mind began to tug at him roughly. A sense of familiarity rushed through him as his eyes found their way back to the picture of the students from the Veterinary Club.

Towards the left of the photograph, there was that blond hair and that familiar tattoo Leon had seen in countless pictures at Cora's house. There stood Zell with a group of classmates smiling that bright smile he had. So Zell went to this school before he went missing...

Of course he did. This was his hometown and his mother worked here. He was drawn to that face, Leon realized. He knew there was something about it when he first saw the photos at home, but what? Did it have to do with his past?

The schoolbell rang interrupting his thoughts. He was late for lunch. Shit that line was going to be long, he grimaced.

He had thought that the classrooms were badly overcrowded. It was even worse here in the cafeteria, he realized as he walked in. After waiting through an excruciatingly long line, and standing behind a group of loud teenage girls, he finally got food. He sat down and ate contently by himself and when he was done he was at a loss of what to do.

There was still a good amount of time left for lunch, so he took out his notebook and a pencil and began doodling. He became lost in his thoughts occasionally, and when he got too far away he always seemed to find his way back to thinking about Zell.

It must have been really hard on Cora, all this time not knowing where her son was. Where could he have gone too, Leon wondered. Was he safe? Dead? Alive? Happy. And where would he have gone? Why would a son just up and leave their home without telling their loved ones? It seemed very selfish. Leon couldn't help but wonder if he had a mother somewhere out there, and if she looking for him as well...He _did _wash up on shore after all. Who knows where he could have come from originally.

"Wow! You're really good!"

Leon jolted out of his thoughts and turned around to see a girl with short brown hair peering over his shoulder. She was beautiful, so beautiful that he forgot how to speak. "E-excuse me?" he asked.

"Your art," she specified smiling at him and moving to his side to get a better look at his "doodle."

Leon looked down at the paper he had been drawing on and looked at the picture he drew. He looked at it as though it were someone else's drawing. "Are you in the art club," she asked.

"No," he replied.

"You should totally join!" Leon had become so confused. "See you around, Da Vinci." She waved good by and trotted off to sit with a group of her own friends.

He watched her interact with her own friends as if she hadn't just interacted with him at all. Then he looked down at his notebook again. Somehow, he had managed to draw a life-like sketch portrait of Zell. "Wha-" he stammered as he ran his fingers over the vivid print of the boy's bold ink tattoo.

He had gotten every single stroke right. His jaw, his piercing eyes. And even though the drawing was in black and white, he could still see blue coming from those orbs. Weird, he thought to himself.

**Zell and Seifer**

The pregnant boy had been trying his hardest for hours not to complain too much. He knew bitching and moaning was becoming more and more of an unappreciated trait, but Seifer was practically power storming in front of him. If they had flown on Cerberus, or even rode him on the ground, the tension would have been lessened, but after seeing that aircraft that flew above them as they were leaving Winhill had made them take precaution. Hence, they were on foot, and Cerberus was on his own. This fucking sucked...

"Why are you walking so fast?" Zell called behind Seifer.

"We gotta get there before nightfall," Seifer replied keeping his words short and simple.

"How long until we get there?"

"Soon. But only if we keep conversation to a minimum."

Zell narrowed his eyes at the man's backside. "Don't talk to me like I'm a stupid kid."

He was walking fast and keeping conversation for valid reasons.

1: He wanted to reach Timber before dark. Without Cerberus this would prove difficult.

2: Things between himself and Zell were growing strange and abnormal. This was the most time the two had spent together with each other without Zell trying to kill him and Seifer trying to find a place to put his cock. Neither of them knew how to exactly "be" around each other anymore, so of course the two immature males just did what they were best at: they fought.

Let's backtrack and look at why you're in this position in the first place, Seifer. You said you would protect Chicken, which was a bad idea. You're not a fucking knight or a bodyguard.

You like Chicken, there fore you also like protecting him. It makes sense, he reasoned with himself. What!? No-no-no-no-no! I don't like him!

-Revise-

I just want to FUCK Chicken, therefore I am HORNY and just hanging around until the time is right to where I can ram him over and over again into the headboard. There. That sounded much better, he decided.

"Seifer."

There was no way the Great Seifer Almasy was going soft for a piece of blonde boy ass!

"Seifer!"

It just wasn't a possibility, but it was and he knew it. The past few days together were making Seifer feel things. Things that Seifer hadn't felt in a long time. Ever since he was a-

"Seifer!"

"Oh for fuck's sake! Can't I think for five fucking minutes without stopping for a Goddamn bathroom break?" Seifer turned and intensely raged on the smaller boy. In an instant, something large and solid crashed into the man's angry red face.

Seifer fell backward and hit the dirt with an **OOMPH. **"What the-" He looked up to see the passing form of Zell walking by him angrily. The angry Chicken continued walking ahead of him and cursing his name vehemently the entire time. "Asshole!" he called.

The vampire looked down in his lap and saw the object Chicken had hit him with. A heavy black boot. More specifically, Seifer's heavy black boot. Ah, shit. He had been thinking so hard that his shoe had come off and he had been walking without it the whole time. He was so deep in thought he didn't even notice. Fucking great, he thought as he waved his foot back in forth in frustration.

**Moments later**

A long stretch of silence went on until finally Seifer gave in and snapped it. It was _his _fault after all that they had just gotten into it. If he was going to lead Zell back to Balamb, then he needed to be the maturer one of the two, even though realistically he really wasn't-he was just the more focused of the two. Both boys were actually very immature. "I didn't mean to yell back there, I just-I have a lot on my mind," he explained to Chicken.

_That was almost an apology, _said Mell.

I kind of wish he'd apologize for killing Squall.

_Haha, right like that's ever going to happen._

"It's cool" Zell replied to Seifer flatly.

_ It's not like his apology would bring back your dead boyfriend anyway..._

Husband, Zell corrected.

Seifer tried really hard not to say this, but he did anyway-the words just spilled out. "I'm also kind of confused about last night..."

"What do you mean?" Zell asked trying his hardest not to blush.

Seifer chuckled knowingly and said, "Oh come on. Tucking me in like I was a five year old? Adjusting me so I would sleep better even though I was "pretending" to sleep just fine."

The red in Zell's cheeks fully came out this time. "I felt bad for you," he answered quickly. "I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with sometimes...neither are you. But I don't want to be a bitch towards you the WHOLE time...I really don't. It uses up a lot of calories, and well...I need those." Seifer was perfectly fine with that answer, until he opened his mouth again and continued, "Even though I never asked you for your help, you're still doing a great job making sure I'm safe and on the right track...and thank you for breakfast. When I was trapped in that lab they were awful to me the whole time...I wouldn't have made it this far without you."

Seifer wished he would shut up. Just stop saying all of these nice things. It made it harder for the vampire to be cruel and it made him uncomfortable. Instead of lashing out or shutting himself off he just replied, "Well that much is obvious. You _are _the one who fell asleep on a moving Cerberus." Seifer grinned as he teased the smaller blond.

"Shut up," Zell was still embarrassed about falling off and having that dream. Images of that dream came flooding back to him again. It was silent, but they both definitely laughed at the same time, or at least they smiled without looking at one another in their own way.

"Look," Seifer pointed. "Train tracks."

And sure enough, Seifer was right. Train tracks led completely straight towards the Old City of Timber.

"It's timber," Zell said happily as he beamed at the industrial city in the distance. They both stopped for a second. "You did it! You got us here!"

Seifer turned his head to look at the boy standing right next tho him. Why the FUCK did he suddenly want to wrap their fingers together!?

**Ahem. **

Seifer cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Let's go, we need to find a place to stay before it gets dark."

They entered the city silently and without drawing any attention. Zell noticed a dark shadow swiftly speed over their position on the ground. But when he looked up he saw nothing, only a cold gray sky. Poor Cerberus, Zell found himself thinking. He knew the dead zebra missed its new master, but he had to stay hidden. It was amazing how the beast knew how to detect their location. It was like Seifer and Cerberus had some sort of unseen connection.

"It looks so...so.." Zell couldn't find the word.

"Depressed," Seifer finished for him.

"Yeah..."

Something was definitely going on here. Something that wasn't normal. Looking at the faces of all the citizens of Timber, you could easily tell something bad was happening behind the scenes of this location.

"It has nothing to do with us," Seifer declared. "We find a place to sleep, board the first train in the morning and never look back. End of story. Got it?"

Even though he didn't like Seifer bossing him around, Zell knew the man was just being street smart and trying his best to avoid any type of problems. "Got it," he answered. They proceeded to look for accommodations for the night.

Timber was unlike anything Zell had ever seen. It wasn't impressive or anything like Deiling _or _Winhill either. The only thing one could consider impressive here was the discomfort and exhaustion Zell felt just by looking at the people and the conditions of buildings here as he walked along with Seifer on the brown brick road.

Many of the buildings looked like they were made lazily from bricks and cement. Factories were scattered here and there, blowing their smoke upwards into the endless gray sky.

As the pair walked through the crowded depressed city, they realized that it was becoming difficult to find shelter. There was hardly ANY hotels in sight, and people were becoming ruder and ruder. Mell was about to MAKE Zell smack the next asshole who bumped into him and didn't say sorry.

Finally, they saw a hotel. Without thinking twice (it was getting darker by the second), they bolted for it, but when they got inside they quickly regretted their decision.

"Holy fuck," Seifer muttered.

"No way."

_Way..._

It was completely packed. Imagine a BMV office in China. There were no lines that led to the front desk, but instead a massive crowd flooded the lobby in front of the desk.

"Is this for real?" Zell asked.

"I don't understand," Seifer said.

_Remember a little battle that took place a couple days ago in the middle of the ocean? _Mell asked Zell. _All of these people are trying to get as far away from Galbadia as they possibly can after that missile hit._

That makes sense. "It's S.E.E.D.," Zell said as he turned to Seifer.

"What?"

"The people who held us captive and tried to kill us. That battle between them and the vampires and us. It's scaring everyone who lives close to the Galbadian continent. They think war is going to break out so they're migrating..." Zell explained as though he had thought of that explanation all by himself. Seifer eyed him suspiciously. Chicken wasn't normally this smart. Zell continued oblivious to Seifer's suspicions, "It's just like back in Winhill-only this time I don't think it's going to be as easy as booking a honey-moon suite as a last resort."

Seifer eyed the employees of the hotel behind the front desk of the slightly weathered building. There was a decent number of hotel staff., but they didn't stand a chance against the horde of travelers. They were angry and desperate. Seifer could overhear the employees saying things like, 'Yes, yes, please forgive us. We will notify you as soon as we have an opening.' "Let's go," Seifer ordered.

"Yeah," Zell agreed with slight disgust and frustration.

They stepped out of the crowded building, thankful to be out in the not-so fresh air of Timber. Without having to ask Seifer what the alternate plan was, the vampire spoke up already having the answer, "Do you think you can survive a train ride straight through to Balamb?"

"It looks like that's the only way out of this situation," Zell reasoned. "I've slept on trains before." When Zell had said that, his mind flashed back to the beginning of this journey. Back when he had been a normal non-pregnant teenager, running from a couple of murderers. He had slept on the train loads of times then...alone...running from the man who was standing in front of him at this very moment. Funny how things turned out.

"Okay good," Seifer answered, obviously not getting the reference or seeing the look of deep thought on Chicken's face. "Off to the train station we go then."

"Try not to lose your shoes on the way," Zell teased. As he stifled a shiver from the cold air.

Seifer just glanced at him sideways and noticed that the words didn't hold _that_ much aggression in them. Seifer smirked and teased back, "Just try not to fall off of a bridge or trip over a horse, clumsy."

Zell grinned back, making Seifer clear his throat and feel a tinge of warmth streak across his face. It must have been heat from a streetlamp, he thought.

_Mhm..._

Did you say something? Zell asked Mell warningly.

_No, just that I see you two are getting pretty cozy._

Sounds like jealousy. Trust me, I don't want your man, Mell. Even though he was talking to Mellenia, he couldn't help but feel he was saying the words to himself.

_Oh no don't mind me, get as cozy as you want with him. That just makes things easier for ME._

Zell swallowed a lump in his throat as the two made their way across the city, following the train tracks that led to the main station. Timber was so big and industrial for this reason alone. It was the state of commercial transportation and travel. Every train going ANYWHERE on the globe was right here in the center: Timber.

Zell's heart dropped about 40 stories into the Earth when he saw what laid before him. "Run!" Seifer shouted.

The two began running up the brick steps that led to the train station, but they weren't nearly fast enough to catch the train headed for Balamb that sped off completely leaving Zell and Seifer in the depressing city of Timber. "NO!" Zell screamed at the train as it became smaller and smaller.

Seifer quickly rounded on the train attendee pushing everyone out of the way, angering some folks. "When is the next train to Balamb?" he demanded.

Zell stayed in his spot trying not to shiver. It was getting colder here in Timber and he could have sworn he felt a drop of ice hit his forehead. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was quickly becoming darker. They were here with no place to stay and would have to wait for the next train out here in the cold. It was times like this where he really missed the little coffee shops in Dealing City.

He snapped out of his memories of the days when he lived "somewhat" carefree and also "somewhat" dated Irvine Kinneas, when he noticed Seifer sulking back over to him. "What did he say?" Zell asked. "When is the next train to Balamb?"

"There isn't," he said.

Zell was silent for a while as he processed the meaning behind the response. "There has to be-these trains hardly ever stop."

"They're on strike...not enough workers for the transport company."

"For how fucking long?" Zell hadn't meant to curse, but he was beginning to get stressed...and so was Mell.

"It's to be determined. Could be weeks..."

And then as if their world and luck hadn't gone to shit already...it began raining. A sound escaped between Zell's cold lips as the icy droplets dripped down the back of his shirt. He gasped in shock and said, "You've got to be kidding me." Seifer was completely unaffected by the change in temperature. He could feel it...but wasn't affected. But Zell...he had to make sure he was warm.

Seifer knew the importance of keeping this Hume out of the cold. If he had is trench coat, he would have given it to Zell to keep him somewhat sheltered. The gesture somehow came naturally to him. He didn't question it, he just took the shorter drenched boy in his arms, held him close to his undead cold body, and led him away.

Zell didn't ask where he was being taken, or what Seifer thought he was doing. He had become cold and almost freezing and actually would have preferred if it snowed instead of freeze-rained, that way he would be less wet.

Zell took a moment to hold on to Seifer as the other man tried to get him out of the rain, as he did so, he couldn't help but squeeze one of the taller man's round biceps. Seifer succeeded in getting his Chicken underneath a copper plated bridge. Where it was a bit warmer and a lot dryer.

Zell clung his drenched freezing body to Seifer's, as he tried to become warm again. Seifer tried to focus his thoughts onto something stable, but his mind was just a jumble right now. "Are you okay?" Seifer's deep voice and cold breath shivered it's way down to Zell's tailbone, making him jolt. Thankfully it only looked like he was still shivering. "Yeah, just a little cold-Seifer?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate Timber..."

"I know...me too."

Seifer felt himself becoming hard through his wet pants at having Zell so close to him. He couldn't help his body's reaction, and now of all times he felt like it was inappropriate. Seifer Almasy. Inappropriate? Wow..that was a first...

He tried to pull away and distance himself from Zell's hot body that smelled of ice-rain and lilac. He wasn't able to stand the way the closeness was making him feel, but Zell's small fist clenched his shirt tighter. "Stay...here...please," he begged. "Jus' until I get warm again, I-I'm sorry."

It was no problem at all. His warm skin ghosted over Seifer's frigid numb dead body, and when it did, those ghosts of feelings begin to stir again. Warmth grew over his face once more, he looked around. There was no heat-lamp here. Seifer held him tight and rubbed Zell's body, trying to do everything he could to cause friction and heat for the boy. "It's not your fault," Seifer answered. "It's mine."

"No, it's not your fault," Zell argued. "It's S.E.E.D. It's t-their fault," he shivered. "There's no way you would have known we would run into trouble like this."

"We should have stayed in Winhill for another day."

"I know you said you wanted to keep me safe-for whatever reason-but you can't protect me from everything," Zell said. "I'm bad luck anyway..."

But he wanted to, Seifer realized. His body wasn't providing Zell with the heat it should have, and he wasn't being the man that Zell needed him to be. That's because he wasn't a man; he was a monster. And he didn't deserve to hold Zell like this in his arms. Deep down in his bones he knew this.

"What do we do now?" Zell asked looking up at Seifer.

This is where everything changed. Seifer made the one fatal mistake of looking into Zell's sad, small blue eyes. It was as though he were really looking at him for the first time. It could have been many factors that led to this moment right here and now. The rain, being under this bridge, being hunted by a kingdom of vampires and an organization that killed vampires etc.

It didn't matter. All that mattered was Zell's baby face just begging to be kissed. Is that what he wanted? Could it be possible? "We..." Seifer began stupidly. Zell answered Seifer's question by closing his eyes and leaning forward towards the taller man.

Holy fuck this was about to happen...

Seifer closed his eyes, parted his lips and-

"Hey, you two. You need a place to stay?" a voice called somewhere from underneath the same bridge they were under.

_Fuck!_

Seifer, naturally, was the first to react. His grip on Zell became vice-like and he spun him around in some type of lightning fast defense move. Seifer held him safely behind him as he reached for his Hyperion with his free hand, aiming the gunblade at the intruder. "Who the fuck are you?" he snarled, all former sensations of warmth were now gone with the fleeting ice-cold wind.

"Whoa there. Take it easy, pal," the man said as he raised his arms in peace. He was holding an umbrella. "I'm only tryna help. My name is Zone. Put the sword back and let's talk like civilians." He was middle aged and handsome with short jet black hair...he was Asian...He looked like he could be a janitor at a school or something, Zell decided.

Seifer regarded Zell without actually looking at him. Zell gave Seifer a squeeze on his bicep again to assure him that it was okay. On that signal, Seifer sheathed his blade back onto his tailbone and asked, "You said you have a place for us to stay? What's the catch?"

"We have no money," Zell blurted.

Zone smiled at Zell and replied, "We'll talk about payment later. Follow me, let's get from under this old bridge." He pulled out an extra umbrella and tossed it to Seifer, who caught it with ease.

The two blonds exchanged a glace with one another one more time. Well, it's not like they had anywhere else to go. If this man turned out to be a danger to either one of them, especially Zell, Seifer could always just kill him, he decided.

**Laharl**

He watched as Comfort and her mother hugged each other with so much emotion. He had become overwhelmed by it all. Humans, he thought. As he laid eyes upon the Queen of Trabia for the first time ever, he made a mental note that she was perhaps the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. A beauty that matched only that of another Queen he knew in his childhood...

The Queen of Trabia wore a silk gown that flowed all the way down her length, completely concealing her feet, but still showed off her full figure. The shape of her hips, thighs and legs stood proudly out of her gown and she had moved with the utmost grace. The majority of her beautiful almond-like skin was covered except for her collarbone/shoulder area and her neck. She wore expensive gold jewelery around her wrists, neck and a beautiful beaded headdress.

"Mama!" Comfort cried. No, literally the girl had begun crying as her mother held her tightly in her arms. As Laharl watched the exchange further, he noticed that Comfort was darker than her mother. Comfort was more of the color of a snicker's bar, and her mother was that of a butterfinger. He wondered how long it had been since she had seen her family.

"Naya!" she exchanged back to Comfort. "Envem ha vous drah? Lou he vous veh aki?"

"It's a long story mama," Comfort replied. She began explaining everything in English, from beginning to end so that everyone in the room could understand.

"Dis is Laharl," Comfort gestured to him, earning him all of the attention for the moment. "He helped me the whole way here. Mama, we need to speak to Papa. The Loirens need our help and we have to get Laharl home. It's about a friend I made while I was in Esthar. He's human like us...we have to help..."

The Queen smiled warmly at Laharl, making him feel the heat of her kindness inside his belly. "Thank you," she said in a thick Trabian accent. "You protected ma' daughter."

Laharl bowed modestly. "She protected herself. She is very strong, you should be proud."

She continued smiling at him warmly. "No one harms this boy," she declared in the chamber in front of every guard. She turned back to her daughter and said, "I will have your father speak to him. After you two have been cleaned and fed the meeting should ready."

"Thank you," Laharl said with genuine gratitude.

Comfort gave him an "I told you so" look. He mouthed the words "Shut up" to her while no one was looking.

"Vous ka Fuegrasa!" Just then, the doors behind them broke apart and in came another tall dark warrior-guard. "Aye doz gueren en ko vouts! Sayen ke vemen hamouts aki!"

"What!?" Comfort said confusion written on her face from the abrupt announcement.

"Go," the Queen told her.

"Yes, Mama." Comfort grabbed Laharl and told him to follow her.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked tired of being left out. Maybe after this he would finally learn Trabian...

"The guard said that there are two white boys at da front gate sayin' they have business here."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"The guard said that they came out of the water...and one of dem was wearin' a Galbadian soldier suit."

"Okay that's a little weird."

"Exactly-let's check it out, maybe one of those S.E.E.D.s found out where you are."

A man in a galbadian soldier suit. This sounded like it could lead to more trouble... Laharl thought. They made their way back the way came, through the hallways and out the entrance and into the courtyard outside. Dawn was settling and the cool air ghosted over his pale skin.

"There they are," the guard said. "The intruders."

"Please help us!" Laharl and Comfort heard a familiar voice cry just up ahead of him. As he, Comfort and the rest of the guards got closer, he began to see the shape of a man slumped on the ground. He was held at kill point by the two Trabian guards who protected the front gate. They held their spears out, daring the white man to make one single wrong move.

Comfort squinted her eyes as if she was seeing something she couldn't believe. While Laharl grabbed his crossbow in anger at who he was seeing.

"Wait!" Comfort snapped at him. "Look. I know him! It's-"

"Kinneas," Laharl said with disgust. You'll pay for Squall's death once and for all!"

Irvine looked up from his position on the ground and locked eyes with Laharl. This was fate. He had swam all the way here from hell just to be killed by this violet eyed demon hell-bent on revenge. He had his finger on the trigger, ready to slam arrows straight into his ugly fucking human face, when he noticed that Kinneas clutched something heavy in his arms for dear life. Laharl examined it closer. It was another person in his arms...weak pale, on the brink of death it seemed...

"Nida!" Laharl cried the name of his Asian companion before he could control himself, completely dropping his weapon to the ground with a loud steel clank. Something inside him had made his normal ruthless composure completely break. He noticed that the boy was alive but barely. He was still breathing and his skin was horribly charred. He was still alive! Laharl could feel his insides burning with something he had never felt before.

He turned to Comfort in desperation. She didn't even need to acknowledge his request. Speaking swiftly in her language with urgency and care she gave commands to the guards. Laharl watched with worry as they scrambled immediately taking Nida out of Irvine's weak arms and ushering the two wounded boys inside the comfort of the castle.

Laharl's feet began moving of their own accord so that he could get a better look at his-

**WOOMPH**

Before he could reach his battle partner, he was shoved back harshly by a tall guard and hit with rapid Trabian words. He cursed at the man but Comfort placed a hand on him, steadying his temper.

"They're takin' em to the medical wing," she explained reassuringly. "Don't get in their way. There's nothin' you can do right now but let em work on your friend as fast as possible."

Laharl watched as Nida was taken farther and farther away with Irvine trying his best to stay at his side. It wasn't long before the cowboy collapsed and a tall Trabian guard hoisted his smaller white body over his shoulders and carried him as well. "I want to be with him," Laharl said immediately noticing the double meaning of his words.

"Then let's go. Jus' remember to stay out of the way," Comfort said knowingly. As they raced to catch up with their two friends, Comfort was doing a victory dance underneath her serious expression. _I knew Laharl liked dat kid_ she thought giggling to herself.

** Zell and Seifer**

Seifer and Zell followed the man name Zone to an Eastern part of Timber. They made it just in time too because nightfall had finally arrived completely along with the icy temperature. Seifer had managed to keep the umbrella over Zell and protect him from the frigid rain. Zell insisted that he hold his own umbrella, but Seifer wasn't having it. The boy was simply too short and also he was Chicken-clumsy.

Zell cocked his head to the side when Zone led them to their destination. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing right now...

In front of him were dozens of trains. Scattered about and derailed in various directions. Some of them were collapsed into each other, and others were turned on their sides completely.

"This...what is this?" Zell asked Zone.

"Welcome to Timber's very own Train Graveyard," he said in the most welcoming voice he could use. "Please right this way."

Zell glanced at Seifer first before following. "Come on," he said simply.

_This is weird..._said Mellenia.

Yeah...

They proceeded to follow Zone further into the Graveyard. Zell felt a lot more at ease when he saw that the area was very lit. It felt safer knowing that light was coming from the beams above them.

They walked up some steps that led to a compartment in a rust colored train car. Zone knocked three times in a special sequence and the metal door immediately slid open.

They were greeted by a man with a round face. "My, how the forests of timber sure have changed..." he said nonchalantly.

Zell gave Seifer a sideways glance. "Well at least the owls are still around," Zone replied in the same casual tone.

"Come in, hurry, sir!" the round faced man said.

"Calm down, Watts. We weren't followed."

"Better safe than sorry," the round faced man named Watts replied.

When they were all finally inside and the door closed behind them, Seifer finally said, "Alright what the hell is going on!?" the anger was very apparent in his voice.

"Ah! You brought a scary one!" Watts shrieked as he stepped back in reaction to Seifer's scary voice.

"Like I said before, my name is Zone. And this is Watts. We're the leaders of the Forest Owls." He extended his arm to shake Seifer's hand, but the vampire gave him a "what the fuck" look. Zone stepped back cautiously.

Zell, embarrassed by Seifer's unfriendliness, stepped forward and took Zone's hand eagerly shaking it. "My name is Zell, and this is Seifer."

"Pleased ta meet ya. Well I s'pose you're waitin' for an explanation as to why I invited you here. Well, we're not criminals or anything, I just overheard that you were stranded here in Timber and that you also couldn't get a hotel. We have food, clothes, fresh hot water and warm beds. Make yourselves comfortable until you can board the next train."

"Sounds fishy," Seifer muttered. "And what are the Forest Owls."

"We're the backbone of timber, sir!" Watts began explaining. "We've been helping the low class citizens of Timber for a while now, only in exchange that they help us with our newest project, sir."

"Which is?"

"It has to do with your payment for our hospitality," Zone replied.

"We appreciate it we really do. But like I said before, we have no money."

"Oh that won't be a problem, sir," Watts said to Zell. "We only require that the travelers staying here are able bodied and can help us labor during the day."

"Labor?" Zell asked.

"We want the train graveyard cleaned up, otherwise this part of the city will get bulldozed. People who live here have no where else to go. So we have to make it look presentable or else it will be destroyed, sir," Watts explained.

"It's all a bunch of legal nonsense involved," Zone added. "I saw that you two, like many others in Timber right now, are just passing through because of the Galbadian missile crisis, and got stranded. There are no other available hotels because of the bad economy here...we don't get many visitors in this city nowadays...So...will you help us?"

"Yeah, we'll help," Seifer answered immediately, which slightly alarmed Zell.

"Great, sirs! I'll show you to your rooms. Let's get you out of those ruddy overalls, sir!"

Watts led Zell and Seifer down the corridor of the immobile train. It was nicely decorated inside the car and had paintings along the wall with plenty of electricity for light. It was carpeted and had heat too. Very cozy for just a train. Zone and Watts, in Zell's and Seifer's opinion were proving to be very innovative and resourceful.

Zell had been given pajamas that were soft and comfortable. It felt so good to change into them after a nice hot shower and be rid of those uncomfortable denim rusty overalls that Mellenia had picked up from that abandoned barnyard. He sat on a bed in his room, which was conveniently just a train compartment decorated like a bedroom, with a passenger window and an overhead shelf.

Okay, what's up with you? I don't like how quiet you're being, Zell poked at Mell. Not that I enjoy having these lovely conversations with you, but it makes me even more uncomfortable when you keep quiet even though there's clearly plenty that you have to say...

_I don't really have to say much...you have __to __believe me when I say that you're doing literally all the work for me._

What do you mean?

_The deal...you're practically sealing it for me...which I have no problem with...I mean all this time you've been saying you're not attracted to Seifer, but we both know that's a lie._

Okay, I think you and I should have a serious talk about Seifer and what's going to happen...

_You don't need to say anything...you almost kissed him...you slut...hee hee._

Shut the fuck up! And I'm only acting like this towards him because...well...

_Yes?_

Well for starters it's my hormones. Okay so I'm a little horny...so what? Sue me.

_Go on..._

And more importantly...YOU'RE the one who likes him, and you're living in my body so the attraction is rubbing off on me. I _still_ hate him, he knows that. I know that. We're perfectly fine with it... Everyone is happy.

_Everyone except YOU,_ Mell shot making Zell tense at the truth. _Regardless of the truths you speak __to ME__, you're still lying to YOURSELF. You don't hate him anymore... You've exhausted your hatred and it has turned into something else. Hmm let's see, if you hated him you wouldn't be joking around with him, flirting, and almost kissing him under roman__tic copper bridges._

Zell wanted to scream. He knew it was the truth. No matter what you say, Mellenia...whether I hate him or not, I won't sleep with him. Not while-

_You have a bun in the oven? Please...if it were wrong for pregnant people to have sex than you wouldn't be pregnant in the first place...And as for Squall-yeah I'm bringing him up because he's going __t__o be brought up anyway-I know your mind thinks that your cheating on him if you DO end up doing something with Seifer...but you're wrong, Zell. He's dead...let him sleep..._

You know what? Screw you and your "wanna-be cowboy-vampire wisdom". As if you know what it's like to actually care about someone or like them...

Mellenia remained silent for a while before saying, _there's way more to me than you think...you'll see. Both of you are stuck in these cozy little train-home for a while. It's innevitable._

**Knock Knock Knock.**

Zell jolted at the abrupt knocking on his compartment. He stood up from the bed and walked over towards his door. It was probably either Zone or Watts, coming to bring him another unnecessary toiletry. He had already told them that he was fine and ready to go to bed, he thought still frustrated from his conversation with Mell. He should have just let that bitch stay sleeping, he regretted.

When he opened the door, however he was met with a taller body with a piercing green gaze and a prominent scar in between them. "Hey," Seifer said casually.

"Oh, hey," Zell said sounding less surprised than what he really was. He didn't expect to see Seifer until the morning. He thought he had went to sleep.

The two stood awkwardly in the doorway for a moment. "...Can I come in?" Seifer asked finally.

Zell hesitated. Was that a good idea? If he approved of Seifer coming in his room, he would be allowed in anytime he wanted..."Sure..." he had lost control of his mouth. Seifer seemed relieved at the decision and walked in past Zell, who's knees had become weak at the smell of Seifer's scent floating by him.

"So this is pretty awesome, huh?" Seifer asked.

"Yeah," Zell replied trying to work his way into a comfortable conversation mode. "It's like a hotel made out of train cars-it's pretty cool."

Seifer sat on Zell's bad and laid down on his back. "Man, I'm exhausted."

Seifer was wearing a plain white T-shirt, and had plain sweatpants on. Zell couldn't help but eye him hungrily as he laid obliviously on the smaller boy's bed. He caught himself staring at the lumpy imprint in Seifer's pants which had become one of the more interesting new garnishments of Zell's room.

"I thought you had went to sleep already," Zell said as his body uncontrollably inched closer and casually next to Seifer's long body on the bed.

"I was going to, but I figured I 'd see how you were doing first."

"Oh," Zell chuckled. "that was thoughtful. I'm about to turn in too. Long day ahead of us tomorrow, right?"

"Don't worry about it-sleep in. I'll do the labor. I can do enough work for the both of us."

Zell frowned, "But that's not fair at all."

"You're pregnant."

"Oh yeah..."

Seifer sat up and looked directly at Zell's face, which was only inches from his own.

Zell didn't move an inch, he just sat there looking back. This didn't feel awkward anymore at least...It was almost as simple as a continuation of what happened under the bridge. There was no questions necessary, because now they both wanted this.

The room became silent. All that could be heard was their breathing, which was becoming heavier and heavier by the second. Leave. Get out. Just let me go to sleep...

Zell's pleas were silent. If he really wanted Seifer to leave, he would have said so...

Seifer pushed himself forward onto Zell and kissed him on the mouth. Zell began immediately and without question kissing him back with desire. Seifer's large hand made it's way between the meat of Zell's slim thighs, while the other held his ribcage still as he grazed his thumb over his nipple.

Zell moaned into Seifer's touch as the larger man laid on top of him on the bed and put his hand up the smaller boy's shirt.

Zell wanted to waste no time. He took his hands down low, and began undoing the draw string on Seifer's pants while they still continued kissing. "Fuck..." Zell began.

"Hm?"

"Fuck me...please..."

"Okay. I will." If the boy was sitting here making it this easy all of a sudden, well hell...Who was Seifer to complain? He wanted to get fucked, he would do his job and plow him good then like he had been wanting to for months.

It was animalistic dialogue at it's best. Zell didn't even care that it was Seifer anymore. He had become someone else entirely and just needed release.

But before they could get any further. "Argghh! Fuck!"

Seifer pulled away from Zell completely and held his palm to his forehead.

Zell jumped up into a sitting position and looked at the man in confusion. "Are you okay?" Zell asked.

"Ah...my fucking head. Shit," was all Seifer said. "My scar..."

His scar...the pain began dulling and fading but that didn't erase the facts...

"You feel better?" Zell asked. When Seifer didn't answer immediately, Zell stood up and fixed his clothes coming back to his senses.

"Yeah...I think I'm just..." when he looked at Zell, who had swollen lips and messy clothes he had realized what just happened. "Forget it...come here..."

Zell didn't move from where he was. There was distance between the two of them now, and Zell was thinking clearly and rationally, and had recovered from being caught off guard. "I think you should go."

"What?" Yes this was about to get ugly.

"You came here unannounced. That's not okay and you know it. You overstepped your boundary and I want you to leave-don't ever do this again."

_Well fuck!?_

Zell got up and headed for the door and was about to hold it open for Seifer to leave quietly, but before he knew it he was pinned against the wall of his train compartment forcefully. "Ow! Get off! Stop!"

"YOU invited ME in! Remember? Did you forget what I am? Did you FORGET what I can do to you!?"

Anger filled inside a completely sober Zell as he tried to channel his demonic powers and push Seifer off of him. He could only do a slight surge of power before Seifer overpowered him once more, pushing him harder against the wall. "Ugh! Stop it!" Zell cried when he realized he wasn't strong enough.

Seifer had easily managed to drag the boy back over to the bed. "I'm done being nice to you, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking," Seifer said more angrily with himself than with Zell. He tore Zell's shirt straight down the middle a loud sound of tearing fabric cut through the room.

Zell was in danger and for some reason his powers weren't working. He had no choice. He drew in a large breath and prepared to yell for help, but before he could scream-

"If you scream, I'll fucking kill whoever comes in through that door."

The threat of Zone or Watts being torn apart immediately halted Zell's actions. No one else would die for him, he swore. He would just have to accept this...he knew what the consequences were, now it was time to face them like a man.

Suddenly, Seifer let go ruthlessly. "I thought about raping you, but I don't want to have to kill everyone on this train when they hear your screams...I can't do this anymore, Zell. I'm done with this...I'm done with you..."

Zell sat up and tried to look Seifer directly in the eye. He could still save him from himself. "You are the way you are because you choose to be, Seifer. I've seen so many of your sides so far. And none of them are weak...you've made me laugh and you've made me cry. It doesn't have to be like this..."

Seifer turned his back to the boy and remained silent as the words hit his shoulders. "I'll work to make sure you're safe. When the trains are running again, you're on your own," He said. And without giving Zell a chance to say anything, he left and went back to his own room across the hall. He wouldn't force himself on Zell like that...it just wasn't right...

He had been planning to all along from the beginning. But when it came down to it, he didn't have the guts. It was because after everything that has happened so far: Seeing Zell smile, the sensation he felt when he was protecting the boy, or when he watched him sleep or do something stupid. He made Seifer laugh, he made Seifer feel like a man. For those reasons, he couldn't disrespect him like that.

As he entered his dark room, he laid down, his head was splitting where his scar was, but he had a comfortable assurance in knowing that he was ten times better than Squall Leonheart. He didn't need to make someone his property to understand them...

**Leon**

As he walked towards the large school that was populated by people his age chattering endlessly about nothing in particular, he began sweating nervously. Why did he agree to do this? To make Ma happy? That had to be it. He felt that he owed her something, he concluded.

No, that was wrong. It was Zell. He needed to find answers. There had to be clues here in the school that the boy attended. Finding him, meant finding his past.

After shoving past everyone in the courtyard, he was finally inside Balamb High School. It was even more populated in here than it was out there. At least there was fresh air outside! That familiar stench of basement, dungeon and torture hit him full force as he entered the building. He gripped the strap of the book bag Ma had bought him with his sweaty palms for dear life.

Then all of a sudden, his head began splitting with pain. The scar in the middle of his forehead burned to life with agony. Visions began to hit him like speeding bricks slamming into pillows. He could see Zell, his face was red with passion. Leon was hovering over him, no...he was on top of him. Kissing his face, hand and neck everything.

He was painfully aroused and needed release immediately. All of a sudden one final jolt of electricity hit his forehead and the vision broke. Too much. It was just too much. Doors were being slammed all around him and students and teachers became more and more sparse by the second in the hallway. It was a wide corridor but it seemed to be closing in on Leon, becoming tighter and tighter. Finally, he gave up and fainted right there in the middle of the floor.

-**Momen****t****s Later-**

He could feel someone looking at him as he slept. He felt like he was still in a dream. He opened his eyes, surprisingly easy and looked up to see on of the most beautiful faces he had ever laid eyes on. It's that girl-the one from the cafeteria.

"Oh you're awake," she said smiling.

A larger woman walked into the room with a stethoscope and a white lab coat. She was intimidating and scary

"Am I in the nurse's office?" Leon asked dumbly.

"You are in the Infirmary," the woman corrected. "We don't have any nurses in this school Just one doctor: Me."

"Oh," he replied. "What happened?"

"You fell," the pretty young girl answered. "I called Doctor Kadowaki as soon as I saw you."

"Good ol' Ellone found you sprawled out in the hallway. You had an anxiety attack."

Is that what that was? No that wasn't just ordinary anxiety...

"The hallway...something is wrong with it it-it tried to kill me," he explained in a completely rational tone.

The girl named Ellone chuckled lightly while Kadowaki just explained that "It was just due to first day of high school nerves. "You're the one who is staying with Cora, right?"

"Ma?" he asked eagerly, realizing he had wanted to see her. "Um yes. I am."

She handed him a piece of chocolate from the pocket of her lab coat and told him to keep his blood sugar up. "No more fainting, you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied knowing that he didn't like the woman very much already. She was bossy and authoritative.

"Ellone, why don't you walk Mr. Leon to his first class. He's already late as it is."

"Yes, ma'am," Ellone said respectfully. She gathered her things and led Leon out of the Doctor's office.

In the hallway, the girl named Ellone immediately began talking. ALOT.

"I've never seen you before! Where are you from?"

"I um..."

"You must be from a smaller town than Balamb," she interrupted. "If you faint from overcrowding here, then that has to be it. So where are you from?"

"I'm...from Balamb," he answered. It was the only answer he had as far as his own origins for the moment.

"Hmmmm, you're not very talkative are ya?" she asked giggling as they rounded a corner.

He sort of chuckled. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'm still a little out of it." He couldn't stop picturing the image of Zell underneath him.

"Well remember to eat the chocolate the Doctor gave you. I know it seems silly that she gave you chocolate, but sometimes all us teenagers need is a little bit of junk food to keep us going."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...so are you an artist?"

"Huh?"

After she bust out laughing she continued, "The picture you drew the other day...it was great. Are you going to join the art club?"

Art club? He hadn't the slightest interest in joining any clubs. They came to a dead stop right in the middle of the hallway they were walking in. Ellone became confused and intrigued at what had suddenly caught the strange boy's attention. "Why are you staring at that case so hard?' she asked looking at him strangely.

He didn't respond right away, but when he did he said, "Nothing..." and continued walking, making her come along as well.

"Well here's your class," Ellone chirped.

Leon frowned as he saw the biology 222 sign in front of the door,. "Thanks for walking me to class. And sorry for making you miss yours..."

"What was I supposed to do? Leave you laying there on the floor. Not a good impression for everyone on your first day." He didn't care what anyone thought of him right now, but she had a point. "Here," she said suddenly. "This is my number. Call me if you ever need help with anything here, or text me or...just whatever hahaha."

"Okay," he smiled. He liked this girl. She was nice. And very pretty and had just a hint of awkwardness.

"Well, bye Leon," she smile and walked away. Leon couldn't help but notice the way her hips wiggled as she retreated to her own classroom.

He sighed and placed Ellone's number in his pocket, and glanced at the glass case one final time before entering the dungeon...err classroom, rather...

**Laharl**

"This one just needs to sleep. He has become exhausted protecting his friend," the healer said. "But this other one...he is not human, therefore I cannot help him."

They all stood around in the Medical Wing, waiting for an answer. Laharl watched in anger as they laid Irvine on a bed and pushed it over to the side behind a curtain to let him sleep, while Nida still needed to be worked on.

The two boys had been brought to the healer and laid down on granite tables to be examined by him. He wore long medical robes and gloves as he examined them.

"Not Human?" Laharl asked. Well he knew that about Nida already, but it irked him at the moment because this time was crucial. As if he had reacted to the vampire's voice, Nida turned his head on the table and locked eyes with Laharl momentarily. It was as though he conveyed a message to him with just one look. And it worked, because now Laharl knew how he could keep Nida alive, the same way he had kept him alive so many times.

"I know how to help him," Laharl said suddenly. "Comfort, I need you to get everyone to leave the room. I can't do it in front of them."

"Fine," She said. She began giving orders again in Trabian, telling the guards and the Healer to clear out.

"May the spirits be with you child," the Healer touched Laharl on the shoulder and left the room. He wouldn't need the spirits for this, he thought agitated. He just needed to show a little skin and shed a little of his own blood. Once the doors had closed behind the Trabians, he pushed his shirt down off of his collar more and held Nida's limp head up.

"Nida, if you can hear me. I want you to drink from me. And when you wake up. I'm going to kick your ass for continually scaring me like this..."

He took one of his sharp black polished talons and sliced at a meaty portion of his neck. Nida began reacting to the smell of the rich fragrance immediately. With less effort now, Laharl nudged Nida's neck into the crook of his neck.

"Uhnnn!" Laharl hadn't even known he was capable of such embarrassing sounds. Pleasure ripped through his body as the man underneath him latched his warm lips against Laharl's colder skin. It felt like minutes had passed by already, Nida grabbed Laharl's long ponytail tightly angling his neck forcefully. "Ow!" Laharl screamed.

"Laharl, you okay?" Comfort called.

"I-I'm fine, everything is going great," he tried to sound normal toned. It was difficult because Nida had seemed to come around to complete awareness and began touching the vampire in sensitive places. He didn't protest, he had come to terms with the attraction long before, and now he was just grateful he could see Nida one more time.

Nida had finally stopped drinking, leaving Laharl dizzy and wobbly-kneed. "Hey," Laharl said dumbly and out of breath once their eyes met.

"Hey..." red cold blood was smeared around Nida's mouth and the boy looked a mess, but his burned skin had disappeared.

"Are you ok-"

He was silenced when Nida pressed his lips against his. Another hot passionate kiss from the Asian boy. Damn he was such a good kisser. Laharl returned it. He had missed Nida and was so relieved that he was alive and his guilt had been washed away. "I missed you," Nida said. "I think I'm in love..."

Something unrecognizable ripped through Laharl from the boy's powerful words. "I..." What should he say? Fuck! He had heard of shit like this. He instantly thought of Squall and did the one thing he could think of.

**!SLAP!**

Nida's head jerked to the side. "That's for making me think you were dead! And I also haven't forgotten about how you ratted me out right before the battle on S.E.E.D. Tower!" He added an "asshole" just to be secure in his own rage.

Nida just chuckled at him. "You sure do hit me a lot."

"You annoy me-don't try to charm your way out of this either...here wipe your mouth-"

The doors were opening. Laharl tensed, but Nida took care of it. He grabbed him again and began kissing him urgently.

"Um...guys..." he heard Comfort begin.

"Vatuvas," one of the Trabian guards said to another at the sight of the white boy kissing the Asian boy.

"Guys stahp!" Comfort hissed. "Ya'll embarrassin' me-don' do dat here!"

Laharl turned around finally with a clean face and no blood anywhere to be found, and so did Nida.

"I told you I would be able to heal him," Laharl said flatly standing up and stepping away from Nida and the stone table as if nothing had happened. "Comfort-"

"I already took care of it," she reassured. "Don't worry, they can stay here. They're our friends after all."

"Nida is my friend," Laharl corrected her. And Irvine will die soon, he finished in his mind.

**Leon**

After completing what had seemed to be an entirely rigorous five hours of school, Leon walked at a leisurely and mentally drained pace back to his place of Sanctuary: Ma's house. She wouldn't be home until a few hours later, she had meetings after school, even though school was technically over, so Leon just walked the fifteen minute walk back home by himself quietly observing the balding trees and piles of leaves everywhere.

After entering the house and placing his bag and jacket on the hanging tree, he tried to find an area of the house, he could clean, but then he remembered he had already cleaned everything. There was nothing else to do but homework, he thought miserably at the idea.

Grabbing his book bag from off of the hanging tree, he headed upstairs to the former guest room to possibly get some work done. He wasn't expecting exhaustion to hit him so hard when he looked at his bed and saw how comfortable it was. Fatigue hit him full force and that was all she wrote.

He also wasn't expecting the migraine that came with his exhaustion. School was really stressing him out already. He paused and flopped on his bed, passing out in seconds.

**Hours la**t**er...**

When he woke up the sun had gone down and Ma still hadn't returned yet. "Shit," he muttered. He woke in a frantic state. He had had a dream about Zell again. This time it wasn't like the flashing vision he had had earlier, but an actual dream this time. He dreamt that he was dancing with the boy, in a huge room with a chandelier as bright as a star.

He held Zell in his arms and kissed him. They were both happy, and Leon could have burst from the amazing feeling he felt. Why did that dream have to end!

He hadn't finished his homework and had conked out for longer than he planned. Now he had to be up all night studying. He fumbled for the light switch in his now dark room and made his way out into the hallway.

He successfully found the toilet and emptied his bladder, which felt like it was going to burst. After taking a long satisfying leak, he stepped back into the hallway and noticed that a door was open to a room he had never been in.

There were a total of three rooms upstairs. The guest room which now served as Leon's bedroom, Ma's room, and another room that Leon usually tried to avoid, mostly because he knew he was drawn to it. But the door was open...should he go in, or should he close the door and get back to his books?

He realized how stupid he must have looked, just standing in the hallway debating on whether or not he should go into an empty room or not. So without thinking, he just went in. He could just make sure the door was closed better when his curiosity was satisfied. Ma would be home any second so this was probably his only chance to see what was in here...

When he set foot inside the dark room, he was hit with a plethora of sensations. The light from the hallway trickled into the room as he opened the door more. The first thing was the smell. It was the same smell he had experienced when he first came to Ma's house. Only his time it was more intense, showing that this was the source of the pleasant scent.

Leon, who was still groggy, was now slowly becoming fully alert. His hand flicked the light on revealing what the dark shapes were: there was a small twin sized bed, a gun rack with rifles going up and down, posters of superheroes lined the walls. Superheroes? The blue hues of the room were pleasing to his eyes and the space was nice and comfortable. Leon had made his way somehow closer to the antique rifles and had been tempted to touch the weapons momentarily, but he held himself back.

He had figured out pretty quickly that this was obviously Zell's room and he was already intruding on his privacy somehow so he wouldn't go any further by touching anything. Anything except the bed that is.

He sat down at the edge of the small mattress deep in thought. He had thought about Zell a lot since he began living here and it was weird, but in a good way. He wanted to learn more; as much as he could about the mysterious missing boy. That familiar fragrance became even stronger making him relax on Zell's bed.

Leon laid on his side on the bed and buried his face into the pillow. He inhaled the sweet scent that sent his mind racing with strange visions of castles, gunpowder and true love. He wasn't sure at first but this confirmed it. He felt more connected to his past whenever he thought about the boy. Zell was a trigger for Leon's emotions and memories by interacting with just his belongings and living in his house.

He was determined to learn more about his past now. Zell was the only way he could do that. It's important that he remembered...but _why_ was it so important? There's something...but what?

**A/N: the inspiration for the Trabian language came from a lot of Spanish mixed with African and French roots :) Deciding on the structure of it was rather refreshing.**

**YAY! Laharl and Nida reuni****ted. Hopefully for good this ****time!**


	30. A Night For Love and Questions

**The Most Dangerous Game Ever Hunted**

**By **_lawchan_

**Warnings: Vampires, Mpreg, non-con, Explicit violence and language, slash, yaoi, Adult themes and sexual references.**

**Pairings: SeiferxZell, SquallxZell, Laharl xNida**

**A/N: I'm not going to apologize, because I know you guys will never forgive me anyway for taking so long to update this. But you'll be glad to know that this chapter is 40+ pages long so enjoy and happy Chapter 30! *Confetti falls***

**We're getting closer and closer to the finish line. I know it's sad. On the plus side, the quicker I get this done the sooner I can get to my next Final Fantasy VIII project. I don't want to start it until Dangerous Game is complete!**

**Warnings: EXTREME SEXUAL CONTENT, and HARSH LANGUAGE!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except...ummm I don't own it -;;;;**

**Chapter 30: A Night for Love and Questions**

**Lien**

**-Balamb-**

"This is it?" Xu asked clearly unashamed of showing how unimpressed and displeased she was with her current surroundings. Lien remained silent as she surveyed the quiet beach town of Balamb. "It's not much..."

"True, it's small. But remember, it's home to a monster. If things get out of hand, we burn it to the ground. Those are our orders. 'If containment is not possible, sanitation is the answer'."

"Understood, Ma'am," Xu replied swiftly and efficiently. The device on Lien's arm vibrated mildly as though to agree with its host.

"Our backup should be on their way-come on. We'll meet up with them and go from there." The two women marched forward and continued on their mission to vanquish evil. They stepped forward into the town of Balamb as though they owned it with intentions on waiting on their Target. They would wait a lifetime for Zell to arrive if they really needed to.

**Zell & Mell**

**-Timber-**

The two blonds, one human and one vampire, had come so far and had become so close to one another on this journey that so far led them to Timber-closer than either boy would like to be, that's for sure. Zell and Seifer had traveled all this way together and had made a new record breakthrough in terms of emotions and sexual tensions. Both elements lingered throughout the entire Train Graveyard in Timber causing disruption and negative energy in every dark corner. It wasn't healthy and something needed to be done. The only one who could fix this was a neutral third party: Mellenia.

When they had first arrived in Timber several days ago, they were greeted with a torrid of cold, wet depressing rain. After Zone and Watts provided the boys with shelter, clothing and food here in the Train Graveyard, the weather only proceeded to get worse and worse. Harsh wind blew the freezing water sideways as residents of the Train Graveyard worked diligently outside to earn their keep.

Zell's current situation with Seifer, having no one to talk to but Mellenia, and the shitty weather was causing Zell to slowly losing his mind, becoming stuck in a state of boredom and loneliness. He couldn't tell what _Seifer_ was thinking either, what could be on the man's mind? Seifer refused to look at Zell most of the time if he _did _see the boy in passing around the Train Graveyard. Seifer also definitely wasn't going to _talk_ to him _first _anytime soon. Initiating a conversation on Seifer's end would probably be too much to ask for at this point. They hadn't spoken to each other since the incident happened the first night that they arrived...

It had been several days since that had happened and now that he looked back on it, Zell felt like he could kick himself for shutting Seifer down the way he had, but what was he supposed to do!? He had been so caught off guard by the sudden visit from the man, he only did what he felt at the time, and naturally that was to do what he had _been _doing: which was to resist.

Mellenia made sure that he beat Zell in the dirt for this type of incredible stupidity. Missing out on a chance to complete the deal and get the ancient demon laid and a shot at some good dick was simply unacceptable.

And what was worse, Zell felt useless being trapped behind these fucking train walls for so long. He spent most of his days throwing up, rubbing his tummy, and eating and watching the depressing soap opera of dramatic weather outside. All the passengers working to earn their keep worked in silence outside, so that their current home wouldn't be bulldozed by the intimidating Government of Timber. They all worked in these horrible conditions while Zell stayed in a heated train compartment, sitting on his egg and brooding and eating carrots...there seemed to be no end of mini-carrots on this train...and on a side-note, he could probably kill for a hot dog. Sooner, rather than later.

One day in particular, as he watched outside his compartment window like he normally did around mid-day, Zell noticed that everyone was digging up scrap metal, moving fallen branches into the designated compost mounds, and cutting down dilapidated structures that would get in the way of their labor. There was no doubt that it was coming along nicely. Streetlamps that weren't working before now glowed to life giving people visibility to work more efficiently and the old turn signals were even functioning again as well. Any copper, ore, Zinc or silver that was found in the ground out in the work zone was given to Zone and Watts as contribution to the Forest Owls' cause.

Zone and Watts, Zell thought comically. They sure were different, but in a refreshing way. The two were in charge of the entire operation of the Forest Owls, Zell quickly found out. Even though they were in charge of everything, they didn't act like slave-owners, or bosses. They were actually more like big brothers. Vigilante-Big Brothers. Zell momentarily thought about Laharl for some reason...

Zone and Watts mentored, and even worked alongside their crew. They were captains...They were amazing people and they deserved to have their goals with the Train Graveyard accomplished, Zell thought.

_Martyrs_, Mellenia remarked one day regarding the two men as he peeped in on Zell's thoughts like he had frequently become accustomed to doing when Zell thought really hard about something.

"Huh" Zell asked passively to the other boy inside of his head.

_They'll go down as a legacy, those two: Zone and Watts. People like them are never forgotten for their deeds-whether they be good or bad. If they're big enough and make enough of a difference, people who did them are remembered._

Mellenia had been acting strange these past couple of days. He completely shocked Zell when he came out of nowhere saying stuff like this. "And how would you know about Martyrs, heroes, and legends? Aren't you technically a..."

_...A what?_

"Well...aren't you considered a bad guy...or something."

_According to who? What makes you say that?_

"I dunno, you just do evil things and don't feel bad about it."

_I don't do 'evil' things just because I feel like it or because I take pleasure in it...okay that's a lie I like killing, but I do whatever is necessary at the time and I just have no regrets about it. I am who I am just like you are who you are. I used this concept to get YOU free, remember?_

"Well, yeah..."

_If you ask me, Zell, there are no such things as 'Good' and 'Evil' There are a fair share of Good people who occasionally have to do Bad things as well as Bad people who do Good things without even knowing it...there really isn't such a thing nowadays as completely good or completely bad, especially with you complicated humans._

"I suppose you're right."

_I AM right. Take HIM for example-_

On cue Seifer suddenly became visible a few meters away from the window that Zell was looking out of. He was wearing a protective rain coat and digging furiously into the ground with a shovel. Zell chomped on a carrot and watched from the comfort of the train as he watched the man's biceps flex with every stab into the dirt. He was definitely something to marvel at when he was sweating like that. Mell continued:

_You're always so quick to call him evil because he acts on his instincts by hunting you down and eliminating his competition i.e. Squall. But like a typical human, you fail to notice that he has been with you every step of the way, watching, protecting you. Making sure you and your child have everything you need even though he hates the beast growing inside of you-because its not HIS child that is... Does that sound like someone completely evil to you?_

Zell remained silent. He couldn't really respond to that. Mell was right and there was nothing left to argue about. All offenses aside, Seifer had only been doing what he had to do but...

_I can just look at that boy and see his whole life_, Mell started again. _Guys like HIM who weren't born as vampires, but made the change later in their life. There's always a story behind how they REALLY died. And they always turn out to have a fucked up past and end up having an even more fucked up future. They're not like Natural-Borns those ones._

"Natural-borns?" Zell asked. "You mean like Squall?"

_Precisely. I've been trying to show you the difference between those two. It's more than the way that they act. It has to do with their genetics and upbringing-they're like dogs in a way: Instinctual variation, which is why I'm shocked that he held back on you the other night-to me it looks like he likes you a little more than he cares to admit...same goes for your little dumb-ass as well._

"I've never even asked him about his past..." Zell said stupidly with guilt. When had Mell become so intelligent and deep!?

_Well then, don't you think it's time you two stopped this silly game and got to know more about each other? _Mell made the suggestion knowing exactly what would happen if they actually started _knowing _'things' about one another. He cackled darkly to himself as he listened to Zell respond.

"He's made it perfectly clear that he doesn't want to get to know me on that level," Zell replied dejectedly. "He only wants _one_ thing."

_So just give it to him already then. Honestly, it's the least you could do. Just corner him so he can't get out of the conversation. And whatever happens after that, well... just flow with it..._

Zell took a moment to consider what Mellenia said for a few seconds. In those seconds it was as if Seifer had been listening the whole time, the man turned his head and looked directly at Zell's window. When he did they both INSTANTLY locked gazes. Seifer stayed like this for a little while but was the first to break the gaze. He grunted and returned back to his rough digging. Once again, Zell knew he would end up doing what Mellenia said. During this conversation, Zell realized that his crush on Seifer was more real than ever and it wasn't an issue of if it was caused by _Mellenia_ or _himself. __I_t was just THERE now and he needed to take care of it. He ALSO, realized how much he just wanted the taller man to fuck him raw and break his back, however _that _could just be his pregnancy hormones speaking...or maybe Mell? Who knew anymore, he thought hopelessly.

**Lien and Xu**

**-Balamb-**

Xu and lien arrived in town and subtly waved down their transportation to be retrieved. Their transportation: a jet black tinted-window jeep manned by a Galbadian soldier had picked them up and began transporting them to an abandoned warehouse towards the further reaches of Balamb. The back part of the town. They headed toward the rendezvous point where they were met with over 60 more soldiers carefully placed around the building to avoid suspicion and attention.

Xu and Lien were escorted by several armed guards and made their way to the top floor of the abandoned building. When they reached the top they were met by a pair of familiar soldiers. One of them wore a cast on his arm, and the other was now sporting a nice pair of crutches. Xu sneered at them with pure resentment from over Lien's shoulder upon arrival. She was hoping that they were dead.

Lien approached the center of the room as she was rightfully supposed to as the Captain in charge of spearheading this man-hunt. She saluted the entire room and addressed, "Sargent Biggs, Commander Wedge."

They saluted as best they could with their injuries that they had received from the previous battle on S.E.E.D. Tower. "Ma'am!" they chanted along with all the other soldiers in the warehouse.

"At ease, men," she ordered."Good work setting up the base so close to the town here," she complimented. "I'd also like to commend you for your dedication to S.E.E.D. You've come here with your current injuries from the previous battle. It is nothing but brave of you to wait here in the home of the beast that did this to you." Xu almost burst out in giggles. She was doing her best to stifle her laughs. If you looked at her, you would never be able to tell she was struggling to keep it in; she had complete control of her body language in situations like these where she had to mask her expressions.

"Men," Lien addressed all the soldiers in the room now, including Xu. "For those of you who are unclear of your target, it is the monster: Target Zell Dincht. Resident at 550 Lilac Ave. Balamb, BA. I have not yet been alerted of any sightings within the radius of our location...nowhere in the city, which means he is still on his way...Xu? I'll let you take charge from here." Lien gestured to her female subordinate and allowed her to walk freely around her captain taking charge of the rest of the mission briefing.

Her small skirted hips twitched over to the wall where a soldier had pulled down a projector sheet and another soldier pushed a projector on a cart for visual aid. Finally a third soldier boarded up all of the windows so that the image on the screen would be one hundred percent visible in the dim lit setting. Light flickered from the machine and brought up a map of not only Balamb, but the next few major cities and rivers, train routes as well as forests.

"This is a 1,000 mile radius of everything necessary for operation "Target D", Xu explained as she clicked a small clicker in her hand. As she did so the words 'Operation Target D' appeared over the Map. She waved the clicker and it turned into a laser pointer around the map. "-and here in in the center we have Base-or excuse me, what is formerly known as 'Base': S.E.E.D. Tower."

She moved her laser a couple of inches to the right going East towards the top of a forest. "This is where primary Target D was last seen before he crash landed somewhere around _here _after the final battle_._" She emphasized Zell's escape point with her laser. It hovered over the forest location that bordered a farming community.

"This is important for you to know for two reasons.

One: He was last seen with an unknown accomplice. Judging from the fact that they escaped with some sort of flying feral beast from the Estharian region, we know that the accomplice is in fact male, _and _a vampire.

Two: This unknown person is officially on our threat list. If the unknown man was able to tame such a feral beast as well as be in coalitions with Target D, then the threat must be eliminated at the same priority as the primary Target.

"Furthermore, Target Dincht and the accomplice not only escaped capture, but we are to assume that they are still together as we speak. Traveling together. Many of you are probably wondering why they have not appeared on our radar, that brings me to my next point." Lien admired Xu as she took charge. She was the perfect pupil.

"Target Dincht and his unknown accomplice are traveling together with an aerial transport, however they are reluctant to use it because they know our eyes are on the skies. With this knowledge, it is safe to assume that the pair are on foot which is naturally taking them longer to arrive in Balamb. They are listed as threats #1 and #2. We will wait as long as it takes for their arrival, correct?"

Everyone nodded their agreement silently giving Xu clearance to proceed. She clicked her clicker to the next slide on the projector. There stood the picture of the ever elegant, "Laharl Loire: He is one of our main threats as well. He is #3 on our list. In defending the primary target Dincht, he attacked us, which is an official declaration of war. He has become a genuine nuisance and is more than likely leading the Estharian Fleet. During this operation, his appearance is _inevitable_. Let's assume that he knows as much as we do. We crush him, the fleet will fall."

Xu clicked once more. And a photo of- "Comfort (last name unknown). #4 on our threat list. She is a known associate of our primary Target as well as a fugitive escapee. Our charges against her include, theft of a battle suit and a model TFBWB prototype. Her threat level is-" Xu seemed to have stumbled at this moment during her briefing and immediately looked to Lien for help but on the surface, Xu seemed to keep her composure. Everyone else in the room took it as just a normal glance.

"Immense," Lien answered with a calm smile on her face before continuing, "and should it come to dealing with threat #4, I will personally handle it myself." Lien finished her statement with a devilish grin that Xu completely understood. Basically that meant 'dibs'.

Xu nodded and continued. "Moving along to threats #5 and #6: Irvine Kinneas and Nida Xia. The auburn haired F.L.A.R.E. Member's Identification photo appeared on screen next to Nida's identification photo, both taken from the F.L.A.R.E. Database. "Some of you may recognize these men as two of our very own, well that is no longer the case. This F.L.A.R.E. Pair has aided Target Dincht multiple times in these past few events. We were able to I.D. Them just in time-what is the status in contacting their office at the university?"

"Still no answer from the University office," Wedge answered. "Their servers seemed to have been cut."

"That's fine," Xu answered. "Threat #5 and #6 are a low priority. You have the option of either capture or arrest if you spot them."

"Traitors must be eliminated on the spot," Lien immediately corrected.

"Yes. That is correct," Xu immediately changed. "And here in the Operation Field (Balamb) we have..." an image of a portly woman with a healthy face appeared on screen. "Cora Dincht. Civilian. She is the maternal guardian of our Primary Target. We keep an eye on her at ALL times. There are units patrolling keeping detail on her as we speak, correct?"

Biggs nodded affirmation.

"We're betting that Dincht will be in contact with her before he contacts _anyone_ else. She is not a threat, however she must be treated as such should she aid in the protection or escape of Target Dincht any further. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the room chimed in unison.

No one but Lien noticed the slight hitch of hesitation that came from Xu before she immediately proceeded with the next part of the mission briefing."Very Good. We will get the job done regardless of any opposition. You will be given a more detailed electronic summary of your targets on your hand-helds. We have DNA samples of a few of our Targets as well, so your alert should go off should you come in proximity of either #1, #3, #4, as well as #5 and #6. We have blood samples for all of them except for the unknown accomplice and Laharl Loire. Since all of them were prisoners and/or worked for us except the Unknown Accomplice and Laharl Loire. The mother is _never to leave_ our sight."

The very final slide showed a list of ALL of the Threats and Targets. Zell, an empty silhouette with '?' written over it to represent the unknown accomplice, Laharl, Comfort, and Nida and Irvine, and finally Cora. All seven targets, Lien noted. One of which was unidentified.

"What's the fails safe?" Biggs asked.

This is where Lien stepped into the picture and Xu moved to the side shadowing her as she normally would. "The mayor is already well-aware. Should the situation become out of hand or out of control, we are to unleash a full-out sanitation via contact from Galbadian Missile Base. They are now on standby."

"Another missile attack? Roger," Biggs responded.

**Lien's device vibrated violently pumping more chemicals into her bloodstream and into her brain. After the substance made her eyes slightly bloodshot red, she glanced at the Target list once more at Zell's photo. Soon, little one. Soon, she promised.**

**Laharl & Nida**

"Oh, there you guys are. Not interrupting anything am I?" Comfort asked as she stepped into Laharl's quarters. The two had been given quarters in the Fedoke Kingdom while they stayed there indefinitely. It was all thanks to Comfort who was nice enough to open up her home to these foreigners until negotiations could be made. Irvine, Nida and Laharl were staying here until they figured out what to do next. She _was_ raised with manners after all. It would be rude for her not to accommodate Laharl, who had helped her reach her home.

The two boys were told to wait in here while Irvine was given special treatment for fighting off the fever he had acquired.

"Not a thing," Laharl said with a bit of warning in his tone. Comfort kept making suggestive taunts about himself and Nida and he didn't like the way it made him feel when she acknowledged their awkward attraction out loud.

"That's unfortunate. Listen," she said switching topics. "I have to go take care of something before we go to the meeting with the King of Esthar."

"That's fine," Laharl replied. He was secretly trying to procrastinate this call and found himself willing to do anything to stall for time so he didn't have to confront Laguna. He knew it had to be done eventually, but the fact was that he was nervous about actually doing it. He _knew _for a fact that Laguna would voice his disappointment, and nothing scared Laharl more than failure.

"We'll wait here for you," Nida added.

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can."

When she left Nida asked Laharl, "What do you think she's up to?"

"Who knows.."

"I'm gonna check on Irvine in a few minutes," Nida suddenly announced.

"..."

"Say something.."

"Okay, go ahead..." Laharl replied with a not-giving-a-fuck-tone.

**Comfort**

Every time Comfort looked down at her own wrist, she was dreadfully reminded that she was a prisoner of her own body, which isn't a good feeling, especially since she was currently at home-safe with her family inside of her own rich and flourished walls. Wearing Lien's bracelet was like an advanced form of house arrest and even though she was able to move around wherever she pleased, she just didn't feel completely free within her own thoughts and actions.

Something _has_ to be done about this, she thought determinedly as she made her way towards the Elder's Wing who specialized in various forms of magics and mechanics: Elder Noble. She'd know _exactly _what to do. There had to be something!

After Comfort had knocked only three times the door immediately cracked open and she was met with an old face full of wisdom and experienced hunched old shoulders that were weighed down with years of answers and information.

"Jonvehm, Elder Noble." Comfort greeted respectfully as always and addressing the Elder with the appropriate title, showing her pearly white teeth with a smile.

"Ah! Ven en, Naya," Come in, daughter, the elder beckoned her as if Comfort were her own daughter.

Comfort was relieved at the fact that the Elder of Dark Magics was a woman. She felt as though it would make things easier for her and she'd be able to relate her problem to the Elder with much more articulation.

They hugged briefly and Comfort stepped inside the elderly woman's study. Along the walls were books on shelves next to a window that let the dusky Trabian light in and of course a tea kettle.

"Tea, carinja?"

"Oh. Nyet. Haha. Ye aktualmente vrena spican de yee. It's important," she answered the Elder's offer of coffee with a polite 'no thank you' and explained how she actually wanted to talk about a small issue she was having. 'Small issue' being an understatement, of course...

"Go on, child. Here have a seat," the Elder beckoned in English noticing that the problem wouldn't be so small if Comfort was coming to _her. _The two sat down across from each other at the small coffee table and Comfort began.

"This," she held out her arm which she had been cleverly hiding from the world of Trabia and finally revealed it to the Elder.

The Elder's eyes grew wide in shock and Comfort noticed that she even repelled slightly away from her.

"Dat," she answered before she could gather herself and finally regain her composure enough to touch the hard cold device on the poor girl's wrist. "If I'm not mistaken, child. Dis is an artifact of evil ancient magic. Dis is a tool used by warriors from da darkest of times when witches roamed de Earth."

Comfort inwardly rolled her eyes. Not that she thought what the Elder was saying was bullshit, but because of course, it _WOULD_ be something from 'the most evil era'. It's Comfort we're talking about: She had to get the brunt of everything bad. If she wasn't having a shitty day, then she was sure Zell was having one somewhere. "Witches?" Comfort asked.

"Not ya typical witch, child. No. Not like in children books, ya. Dis be da main weapon of da witches that worked directly under Diablos himself."

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me..." Comfort whispered under her breath. Diablos: The Vile One Below.

"What you say, child?"

"Nothing!" Comfort answered not wanting the Elder hear her cursing in English. "Okay, evil ancient magic. Got it. How do I get it off? There has to be some switch, right? I've been having trouble finding it."

The Elder seemed to look through Comfort with an empty fading gaze, as though the poor girl were shit out of luck. She grabbed Comfort's wrist once more and held it up to the light so she could examine it further with her old eyes. "Child, dis is de Witchblade. I'm afraid you are cursed..."

If those words had been said with more finality, Comfort knew she would have cried right then and there. However, she took a big swallow of the lump in her throat and said, "Tell me everything you know."

**Leon**

**-Balamb-**

It only took a week for Leon to develop a close friendship between himself and Ellone. The two teenagers spoke to each other mostly at lunchtime. He felt awkward sitting with her friends most of the time so she just compromised and would just sit with him one on one. She ate and managed to do most of the talking while he just sat there and drew concentrated sketches of Zell.

Leon had become quite fond of her. Why wouldn't he? She was funny, sweet, kind, and she didn't think he was awkward or cold and distant either. In fact, the scarred boy intrigued her. But the fonder he grew of her, the more obsessed he became with the mystery of Zell. He looked forward to occasions where he could have conversations about Zell with Cora. He always went to bed with a smile when he heard of his adventures as a child. Mischievous and energetic was he.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Ellone suddenly asked on a Friday at lunch. Lunch had become Leon's favorite class for two reasons. One: he didn't have to learn anything or do assignments, two: He got to eat: The Teenage Dream.

"Umm, I don't know," he replied with teen like innocence. He didn't really think about 'doing things' on the weekend. "Sleep, clean, read books," he said absently as he finished detailing Zell's chin on his sketchpad.

Ellone noticed the distraction at his fingertips and scrunched her face in annoyance. Completely without permission, she snatched his sketchpad from in front of him now in her possession. He jolted unexpectedly and looked at her in shock. "Wow, you just keep getting better and better," she complimented with a hint of undetected bitterness in her voice.

"Thanks."

"Who is this, anyway?" she asked returning the pad over to him.

Leon began to feel nervous and secretive. "No one," he replied flatly.

She knew he was lying immediately. An artist doesn't draw a dozen pictures of the same person and call them 'no one'. "I think you've been working too hard on this character," she went along with his lie. "Why don't we go see a movie tonight?"

"Sure," Leon only agreed so quickly because he wanted to keep Ellone's mind off of the drawings of Zell; his precious precious drawings that the boy obviously needed to have! He would do anything to distract her from Zell, his guilty pleasure, but what are movies exactly?

**Comfort**

**-Trabia-**

"De legend of de Witchblade. Aa where do I begin? Thousands and thousands of years ago, the original Witchblade was worn by a man named Victor Crawford. The country where he was born destroyed long ago. It's an artifact of pure evil created with powerful dark magic and its original purpose was to destroy vampires."

"What happened to him?" Comfort asked the Elder with her full curiosity.

"Well...he died of course."

"What do you mean, 'he died of course'?" Comfort asked getting annoyed by the vagueness of the Elder. "Did he get killed by a vampire, fall off a cliff-what!?"

"Patience, child. De Witchblade took his life, of course. Once it was finished with him, that is. The Witchblade held the power of Diablos and like I said was intended to rid the nation of vampires. Victor Crawford was one of de first witches, or since he was male he was a warlock. Before humans began fighting vampires, witches were the first soldiers against de blood suckers. However after Victor died, the Witchblade cursed his soul and attached itself to his bloodline."

Comfort now realized that she was going to have to completely listen if she wanted to help herself. This looked like it was going to be a long story. "Why did it curse him?"

"He broke his promise with Diablos. Victor was only able to use that type of magic because he made a trade with Diablos."

"Which was?"

"He promised to give up everything he loved."

"And he didn't?"

She shook her head and continued, "He made the foolish choice of protecting one of his mistresses. The women in his family- his descendants, they were punished for his actions-and this is the point in history where the Witchblade began to attach itself to only females and officially got its name 'Witchblade' (it had been called something else at one time, but time has taken that record). The first women to eva inherit the cursed artifact was a woman named Edea Kramer. Her husband was a poor salvager who could not afford an engagement ring.

"One day on his travels, he found the perfect item at the bottom of de ocean on one of his salvage missions-" Comfort inwardly rolled her eyes. Just get to the point already, she thought. "It was de Witchblade, however it had changed forms. It was the perfect diamond studded ring. On the day of her engagement, when her husband had bestowed the ring upon her finger, she began to change quickly after, and so did the shape of the ring. She could not remove it, and it continued to grow and grow into that final shape you now wear on ya wrist, carinja."

Comfort examined her forearm once more. "The engagement ring turned into _this_?" she asked.

The Elder nodded, "Precisely-well it had been reborn into da original version. Later into Edea's marriage, she had three children and shortly after they were born, she killed her husband and then took her own life with the Witchblade. She could not handle de curse any longer and her three children were left on their own...orphans."

"And let me guess," Comfort asked. "Three more Witchblade inheritors."

"Only two."

But I thought you said all the woman who are related to Victor would be cursed.

"Yes, I said that. And the two daughters were indeed cursed by the Witchblade. Invidia, and Superbia are the daughters of Edea."

"Two daughters," Comfort said under her breath. "Then that means..."

"The son: Mellenia."

Comfort was quiet for a moment before commenting, "Mellenia sounds like a girl's name."

"Child do you want me to finish the story or not?" the Elder became stern with the teenager.

"Fine," Comfort said trying not to roll her eyes. The Elders always thought they knew everything and were always telling young people off.

"The curse was accurate in having the Witchblade find the two daughters, Invidia and Superbia, however this is the part in the legend where a twist was added by Diablos himself."

"What?"

"Mellenia, de son of Edea, was born a vampire."

"That doesn't make sense...neither one of his parents were vampires..."

The Elder sighed before explaining. "Dere is speculation in de legend dat this was either a direct interference from Diablos, or Edea's husband had the vampire gene somewhere far back into his lineage."

"That makes sense..."

The Elder took Comfort's wrist into her own hand gently. "And dat explains why de Witchblade only chooses women as its users. A parasite weapon that feeds off of the victim's soul over time, causing insanity and loss of self control." The Elder examined the electronic device closer to her face. "Dis is fake, but still powerful. Whoeva designed de model is well-educated in Dark Magic, as well as the Legend of De Witchblade. Dis appears to me as a mere electronic device, so you won't have to worry about it feeding off of ya soul, but...it is definitely feeding off of your vital signs, as well as inserting its influence into ya mental state. Experts say the curse ended with Superbia and Invidia..."

"What happened to them?"

"No one knows for sure, child. Dey never had children of dere own. And since it was dere duty to destroy vampires, dey were always at odds with dere brother: Mellenia. The three of them fought for ages. Some say that the two sisters cursed their brother into an eternal sleep, never to wake up until..."

"Until what?"

"That's another story in its own." The Elder turned Comfort's wrist. "It's taking blood from your veins very slowly, and replacing its own chemical into your bloodstream. Slowly, see? Here."

"How slowly, Elder?" she was worried now. How much time did she have left to live?

"De blood being taken from you is being processed by this prototype and coming back to you as a chemical that appears to be increasing your adrenaline when you know you're about to enter combat or a violent situation. My guess is that it wouldn't have latched itself onto you if it didn't register that you were physically fit enough to handle the acts it would need you to carry out, meaning your rigorous dance training."

"Shit."

"Precisely."

"So you're saying if I hadn't been a good candidate to begin with, it never would've latched to me."

"Correct, the chemical is being shot back to your cerebral, and surely taking control of your mind. You will likely go insane before your heart gives out completely." Comfort didn't say anything. "You believe me, right?"

"Of course. It's just...the woman that I fought who had this exact same thing on her...she was crazy in a way. Almost delusional. She had been wearing her's far longer than I had."

"She is surely losing her mind to the curse then. She don't have much time left."

Comfort should have NEVER put this thing on!

"I can't take it off...I've tried and tried everything besides slicing my arm off..." she was losing hope. It would be on her until it killed her.

"It is impossible to physically detach dis, my child. And even if you succeeded, I saw trip wire underneath one of de plates. If you DO succeed in taking it off you might end up losing your arm anyway."

Comfort laid her elbows against the tea table in defeat, and almost began sobbing. "There is one way," the Elder said. The Trabian princess looked up hopefully and wanted to shake the old broad.

"Tell me!"

"Complete ya Focus," she said simply

"My Focus?"

"Dere have been some women in history who have managed to have demselves freed from their Witchblades once they completed a certain task," Elder Noble explained.

"And how am I supposed to know what dat is? I have no clues or any hints to go off of!" the princess cried. "Can't you give me more hints?"

"You said before that there was another woman with this same imitation, correct?"

"Yes, the one who arrested us. This one was a part of her collection."

"Find her. And beat de information out of her if ya have to, like she's a small child tellin' a white lie. If you want to be free dat is." That was the simplest thing the Elder had said all day.

"That's not going to be easy."

"I know, my child. Which is why ya need to hear dis last piece of information. Dis will be very useful to you. In ancient times the women who were descendents of Victor Crawford sometimes had to battle each other for dominance. In the same situation you are in. Whose ever Witchblade was destroyed first, lost. But in your case, dis will be a victory."

"What happens if I lose?"

"You die, of course."

Comfort gulped. "Oh. So if I want to be free...i have to-"

"You don't have to kill her," the Elder interrupted before Comfort's thoughts could reach that point. "Not if you don't want to that is. Just immobilize her, bring her to her knees and make her beg for mercy. Only then will she be too weak to carry on. Both Witchblades will react to each other and the one that senses the weaker, will force detachment. If you want answers, you must find her and free her as well before you can free yourself. By the way you described her, she needs more help at this point than you do."

"The only way to free myself is to free Lien Almasy..." Comfort said a little above a whisper to herself. "I don't think I can do it."

"You have to. Understand, Carinja?"

"Ve, Goujin. Paraiham."

**Laharl**

"Will he be okay?" he overheard Nida ask with a genuine worry in his voice that made Laharl's insides feel funny.

"He'll be fine," the Healer responded to him. "He just has to sleep it off and stay on medications to fight any illness he may have picked up from swimming for so long."

Laharl could see Comfort coming towards them down the hall. He noticed that she was looking down at the ground with a rather grim expression.

"Everything alright?" he asked her.

"Huh?" she looked up like she hadn't even known he was there. "Yeah. I'm fine! Tired is all, you know traveling cross-country and everything."

Meanwhile, angry masculine tears were building up in the corners of Nida's almond shaped eyes and his face scrunched up in a rage. "This is all my fucking fault!" he exclaimed as he beat his fist into the hard brick of the castle.

"Calm down!" Laharl said trying to calm the other boy. Comfort took a slight step back and the quiet Healer disappeared from the scene entirely. The fact that Irvine's predicament was causing Nida Human pain made him loathe the ill gunslinger even more than ever. That fucker will pay! "Listen," Laharl began. "Why don't you just stay with him while me and Comfort and her parents go have that meeting with _my _Kingdom."

Nida looked torn at Laharl's suggestion. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"We'll be fine," Comfort reassured moving close to Nida's side.

Nida looked to Laharl for affirmation, who nodded his approval. "Stay with your friend," he said with fake empathy.

Nida unexpectedly kissed Laharl on the lips and said, "Thank you." Laharl gave a slight smile and watched Nida walk down the hall to the room where they were keeping that bastard. He tore his gaze away from Nida's retreating backside and glanced at Comfort who was looking at him with a knowing grin.

"Shut up."

"Didn't say a thang. Let's go. We have that meeting, remember?"

How could he forget? He had to go explain to Laguna how he had ended up where he was and to make matters worse, convince him to aid in the plan that he had formulated while he and Comfort had traveled to Trabia.

Laharl and Comfort had been led to the audience chamber by two Trabian soldiers. The room was, once again, to Laharl's surprise just as technologically advanced as the one in Loire Kingdom if not better. However, when they had arrived. ...

"Where are my mom and dad?" Comfort asked.

"Dey had otha business to attend to. You should be able to handle it since you've been through everything yourselves. You'll hafta do dis without dem."

Comfort nodded in understanding, Laharl however currently had a blank look on his face. The Trabian soldier who led he and Comfort to this room went back outside and kept watch so they were not interrupted. The second soldier set up the equipment so that it would dial out to Esthar. Laharl's stomach turned at the fact that he was now doing this on his own.

He had only had to answer to the king one other time in his youth when he had done something wrong, and that was when he and Squall were playing and he knocked over an expensive vase in a room where they weren't supposed to be in. Laharl had taken all the blame back then, of course. Not wanting the perfect prince to taint his childhood reputation. Experiencing that as a child definitely scarred the boy when it came to confronting Laguna. Laharl suddenly hoped that Esthar wouldn't pick up their phone.

"Don't worry," Comfort said. "I'll be standing right here behind you in plain sight. Whatever he says to you I'll be right here listening to the whole thing."

Laharl nodded his understanding with well hidden trepidation.

The screen flickered and rang only three times before someone finally picked up on the receiving end. A young Estharian Vampire soldier appeared, who seemed to become rather shocked when he saw Laharl's face on the other end. "Sir, Laharl! I-I mean Prince Laharl, I mean your highness-"

"I need to speak with the King," Laharl interrupted the stammering communications worker of Esthar.

Before the worker could respond with 'Right away, sir', a familiar face stepped into view of the camera, moving the communications worker to the side.

"Laharl!"

"Jessie! You're okay!" Laharl exclaimed.

"Yes, of course sir. Everyone is fine. I'll connect you to the King right away." Jessie seemed to hesitate for a moment before putting the communicator on hold. Laharl could see in his eyes that he looked like he had questions to ask. Questions of concern, perhaps? But Jessie knew better than to stand in the way of official business with the King. Laharl could tell that Jessie was concerned for him It felt nice, yet unexpected at the same time.

A stern cough and a serious face broke Laharl abruptly from his daze and snatched his attention immediately back to the screen where King Laguna stood waiting impatiently for an explanation.

"Your Highness!"

"You mean to tell me you've been in Trabia the whole time?" the King asked clearly enraged.

Laharl began. "Your Highness, please! Allow me to explain-"

"Prince Laharl Loire of Esthar," Laguna interrupted. "You disobeyed my orders and deliberately endangered _your _safety and the validity of the Loiren bloodline. You have stepped into Trabian territory without permission as well as helping a servant of Esthar escape. I find you guilty and you will be severely punished once you are returned to Esthar." Laguna's gaze went over Laharl's shoulder directly hitting Comfort. The girl wasn't fazed at all. This was _her _house after all...

Laharl turned around following the King's gaze and saw the unaffected Princess leaning against the wall with her arms folded and her ankles crossed. She gave Laharl a look that said 'pull yourself together. You've got this!' Laharl nodded with new determination and whipped back to the communication screen.

"Wait a minute! Punishment for _what_, Your Highness?" Laharl asked with a little bit more force. Laharl made sure to keep his surprise hidden and his temper nonexistent. He continued, "I defied your orders, and yes I know it was wrong, but with all due respect, Sir. You _told _me to lead the Estharian Fleet, and I _did. _Right until the very end of that battle on S.E.E.D. Tower. I went as far as pursuing our main enemy, who at the time had been pursuing Prince Zell." Laguna showed no signs of interrupting so Laharl continued almost immediately, not wanting what he had to say next slip away. He _had _to be resilient in this topic and he _had _to get his point across. The next few steps in his plan depended on it if he was ever going to get his own Kingdom to cooperate with not only himself, but with the Ally-Nation of Trabia.

"And when you gave me orders, Your Highness, to stand down, I could not comply with them because they conflicted with your previous command as well as my duty to my Prince. I'm sorry, Sir but..." Laharl hesitated here because he couldn't believe that he was about to say this himself. "I am _NOT_ just a secretary anymore. I am a _Prince _of Esthar and I have an obligation to my partner in ruling: Zell. Whether or not it is a Platonic ruling or a Political, should I decide to defend our honor then...well, ya know...I'm gonna do it...Your Highness."

Comfort was shocked that Laharl not only had said that much, but he was using Trabian slang. 'Haha, I know I could bring him to da Darkside,' she muttered evilly in her mind. "Sir, allow me to be brave and do my duty as a Prince of Esthar, like the one before me whose memory we all know and respect...Squall."

Laguna was silent for a while but then cleared his throat uncomfortably before regaining his composure. As far as Comfort or Laharl was concerned he was unreadable. "Very well then. You are correct. You are not a secretary anymore. You are a Prince. I can baby you no longer. I take full responsibility for my mistake as a good King should."

Laharl couldn't feel his legs. He had just received an apology from the King...Squall's father. The same one who had scolded him as a child for breaking that expensive vase. The one whose approval Laharl had been seeking all these years as a person of power in Loire Kingdom. It finally happened! This was the first time in his life that this had ever happened! Jessie could be seen in the background standing next to Kiros and Ward. He was smiling...

"And as for Miss Comfort," the Laharl continued suddenly. Comfort raised her eyebrow upon hearing her name. "I'm sorry. Princess Fedoke," he corrected himself. "We owe her and the Trabians _our_ undying gratitude. Without her I wouldn't even be alive or standing here in this exquisite castle. Sir, this girl has opened up her home to me, helped my friend Nida and given me access to reach you. And before all of this, she was one of the prisoners who was held captive with prince Zell. And she has helped him too along with two other servants in Loire Kingdom...I believe their names were Nuke and Russel. She's a real hero." Laguna watched Laharl his own screen as he watched the boy turn around to smile at Comfort. She really _was_ a hero. She saved so many of those prisoners' lives back at S.E.E.D. "This 'servant' has saved lives...many times..."

Laguna gave Comfort another look that became gradually softer. All she could do was smirk a bit in return. "The Trabians didn't have to help us, because I'm on _their _land. But for the most part I've been treated like family from the moment I arrived here." Laharl left out the part about being pushed around a little by the guards and almost stabbed by giant Trabian spears...heh heh... "I think it's safe to say that this girl and her family have more than paid their debts to us."

Laguna looked at Comfort again and smiled. "Well thank you, young lady. You have earned my respect as well as my trust. You are free of your servitude."

Comfort almost cried from joy. At that moment she could have did the funky chicken and clicked her heels, but kept her composure and just said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Laguna put his serious face back on and turned back to Laharl. "Now, Commander Laharl. What is our next course of action? You're leading the fleet-_You're_ in charge."

"I have a plan," Laharl answered immediately. "But I will need Jessie's help as well as cooperation from the King and Queen of Trabia."

"You have our total support," Laguna said.

"Definitely," Jessie said standing next to the King in the screen. "Whatever you need me to do."

Good ole Jessie, Laharl thought.

"I'll convince my parents to whatever you need as long as I get to be a part of your plan," Comfort negotiated earning a look of confusion from Laharl.

"I thought you would have been done with all of this fighting by now," he said.

"Do I look like I have a choice?" Comfort said holding up her arm and showing off her 'bling'. And besides, Zell's my best friend isn't he?"

Laharl's confusion turned into complete understanding across his face. "Fine," he said. "What I need Esthar to do right now is prepare to leave tomorrow...for Balamb."

"Tomorrow? Balamb?" It was now the King's turn to be confused.

"Trust me," Laharl said. "If my hunch is correct, then there's going to be a battle in Balamb soon. It's inevitable. I'll give you full details tonight before take off."

"Very well," the King cooperated. "Jessie..."

"Right away, sir," Jessie responded already knowing what the King wanted. He left to round the troops.

**Nida**

Moments later, Comfort and Laharl found himself talking with Nida once more after the meeting with Esthar. They gave him a brief explanation of what was about to happen.

"Wow. That's pretty intense," was his remark.

"It's what I was born to do," was all Laharl said.

"We'll worry about that later. You guys are comin' to the event tonight, right?" she asked suddenly after they were done explaining to Nida the plan for tomorrow.

"What do you mean?" Nida asked.

"To da celebration of my homecoming. Or, I guess to you guys it would be called a party. There's gonna be food, drinks, music-"

"Dancing?" Laharl asked hopefully. He had a secret infatuation with the dancing art form in Trabia.

"Well, of course," she answered. "This wouldn't be Trabia without dancing..."

The last thing Laharl needed was to be surrounded by annoying crowds of people, who spoke a language he could not understand, and where he stuck out like a sore thumb. "I'm really not in the mood to par-" he began.

"Oh fuck yeah! We're so there!" Nida exclaimed cutting the exhausted vampire off.

"Sweet," Comfort exclaimed. "I can't wait, I'll see you guys there! Being the princess and all, you know it's going to take me hours to look presentable."

"You mean like a girl?" Laharl joked.

"Uh yes, asshole," she answered jokingly to Laharl lightly punching him in the arm. "I can be a girl when I want to. Anyway, I'll see you guys there.

"Okay. See you," Nida bid farewell to Comfort and noticed the look of hesitation in her eyes before she walked off.

"She'll be okay, right?" Nida asked Laharl once she was completely gone.

"I hope so..." was his answer. "I really didn't want to go to a party tonight."

"...Then don't go," Nida answered.

On cue, a group of Trabian women walked by. They were tall, brown and beautiful with curvacious hips and long legs, flowing dark locks and almond colored eyes. Laharl couldn't help but be enraptured by the women of this region. Nida followed his violet haired companion's gaze to the Trabian vixens. Laharl watched Nida's lips part at their beauty.

"No, it's okay I'll go," Laharl said suddenly. "I'm feeling much better now."

Nida was silent for a moment before finally realizing. "That's cute."

"What?"

"Laharl, your-I think you're jealous," he was grinning.

"What's that?"

"I'm not gonna hook up with any Trabians tonight."

"Why not? They're beautiful, aren't they? Don't you like girls?"

Nida took his hand in his and said, "You're beautiful...I...'like' you...a lot."

Laharl felt heat hit his skin on his face for the first time in his life. He had never been called beautiful before and also noticed his careful choice in words. He deliberately didn't say the L word.

"I'm gonna go see if I can rest up before the party tonight," he said proud of the fact that he didn't stammer over his words.

Nida, put off a little by Laharl's sudden change in coldness sighed and said, "Okay. I'm gonna go check on Irvine again. I'll see you at dinner?"

"Okay."

"You'll be my date," Nida declared with a tone that told Laharl it was a statement and not a question. He leaned forward and kissed Laharl's white cheek and walked in the other direction.

The vampire couldn't feel his knees, or his legs for that matter. When Nida was fully out of view he held a hand to his cheek where he had kissed him. It was hot and pulsing. What was happening to him!?

Suddenly he heard giggling near him. Those Trabian women were laughing at his embarrassed state. He didn't insult them, but he gave them a dirty look and turned on his heel and walked away. How _dare _those hussies laugh at his embarrassed state. They needed to have more respect for his-

Embarrassment...wait...wasn't that a human emotion?

Shit.

Fucking heifers.

**Irvine**

Irvine had tried countless times to wake himself from his painful nightmare that night. He knew he was currently dreaming because he could feel that his body was hot all over and the uncomfortable sensations of confinement and isolation were ever prevalent at every corner he turned.

He had been in the middle of battling werewolves in his dream. He had barely managed to survive, but he _did_. He had defeated a whole group of them and fought up until his last breaths. Was it a flicker of his imagination, or had Zell just ran by him? No this was real, as real as his dream allowed anyway... Zell ran ahead in front of him clad only in the gown that he was given upon his arrival at S.E.E.D. Tower.

Then immediately appearing, there was Commander Lien hot on his trail. She kept up with Zell with ease in her military stiletto. Irvine had run out of ammo and wasn't fast enough to catch up to the two of them. He cursed under his breath before he watched the scene unfold before him.

"IRVIIINE!" Irvine heard Zell scream his name before Lien had completely caught up to him. Irvine watched in a frozen state of shock as she gripped Zell's neck and crushed his spine with the flattest part of her hand. A loud crack rang through the realm of Irvine's dream world, followed by another _crack!_when she snapped the boy's neck. He no longer screamed or moved, his small white body just dropped to the floor like a rag doll.

The cowboy couldn't even say anything as Lien strutted off in silence, looking smug as ever. The sound of her heels faded away into the infinite atmosphere. Irvine had failed and now Zell was dead, and very soon he would meet his own end as well.

Laharl and Nida stood in the distance on a high plateau together looking down on the man as though they were protectors of the desert-like dream world. Irvine could barely make out the shape of their bodies but he knew it was those two. They were holding each other protecting themselves from the harsh surroundings of Irvine's imagination. Irvine watched in confusion and horror as Laharl laid his head upon Nida's chest in ecstasy one last time before brandishing his crossbow and aiming it straight at Irvine. Even from _that _far away, he knew the violet eyed vampire couldn't miss.

Before Laharl pulled the trigger on his weapon, Irvine shifted his eyes to the right slightly to read Nida's expression. He knew his best friend's thoughts so well that Irvine could read them just by looking at Nida's face. Right now he was saying: 'You chose your enemy, now say goodbye, pal.' Irvine felt a string of hurt strike through his heart at how uncaring 'dream-Nida' was being portrayed..

Laharl smirked devilishly as he fired a shot straight at Irvine. The arrow blasted through the air at what seemed to be light speed and yet, somehow it took one hundred years before finally slamming into Irvine's chest. When it hit him, his whole upper body separated from his lower and he woke up shaking, sweating from the heat from his dream, scared and sobbing. This fever he had acquired from swimming for so long in addition to the herbs that the Healer had prescribed were kicking his ass.

When he regained full sense of his hearing, the sound of rain drops had become clearer to him as they hit the tall ass windows of his guest room here in Trabia. He sighed in relief that it was only a silly nightmare as he struggled to sit his aching body up. When he gained a bit of decent balance, he walked the short distance to his long window and unlatched it, allowing the cool air and rain to hit him in his hot face. It was so refreshing to let the Trabian climate cool him down like this. Lightning flashed in the distance and illuminated the horizon of Trabia. Blue light flooded his room and he thought about his bizarre dream. Even though it had been _just _a dream, Nida allowing Laharl to kill him had hurt Irvine deeply.

Nida would never allow that, would he? Irvine didn't know much about his best friend and partner anymore, he had changed. Surely his friendship with Nida was becoming more and more abstract, but Irvine began focusing on what _was _certain: There is definitely something going on between that Laharl and Nida. _That _part wasn't Irvine's imagination playing into his mind, and it didn't look like their connection would be changing any time soon. As for Zell...

Irvine sighed as the medication began to kick back into his system making him drowsy once more. The adrenaline rush that he had gotten from his dream only kept him awake for a few moments and now he was crashing again. His break from the sleep realm was over now and he had to return back to his guilt-based dreams. Hopefully he wouldn't _have _to return back to any nightmares. Maybe instead he could enter a dream where he lived peacefully. Selphie could be a normal college girl and Quistis would be alive and smiling, bossing Nida around.

He'd kill to have that part of his life be real again: A carefree teen and not a demon hunter on the midst of betrayal. He closed his window and climbed back into his bed, allowing gravity to take control of his eyelids. A loud bang sound alerted him that he had indeed _closed _his window, but he'd forgotten to lock his own damn window. 'Fuck', he cursed as he lifted his body up once more only to be met with a pair of angry violet eyes.

Before he could yell for help, cold skinny fingers covered his mouth forcefully and pushing the back of his head back into his pillow. "Make a single loud sound and I'll slit your throat with just my nail," Laharl's dangerous voice sliced fear deep into the human.

"All I want you to do is listen. If you can manage this, then I may let you live, but as I said before, 'one wrong sound and I'll end you.' Nod if I have your complete understanding."

Irvine, scared for his life, nodded.

Laharl removed his hand from the gunslinger's mouth and shifted his weight so that he was sitting completely on Irvine's lap, but not in a sensual way at all. Don't get the wring idea. Laharl sat so that his weight would pin the man down, eliminating both escape and retaliation.

"Now that I have your attention, I'll say what I have to say. I don't want to stay like this for long in your lap because it is uncomfortable for me just as much as it is for you, so I'll try to be quick. Quite frankly I find you vile, Irvine. You're a typical disgusting human and were it not for your friendship with Nida I would have ended you in your sleep. However..."

Laharl paused for a moment, knowing exactly what to say but not how to articulate it properly. "He cares for you. I care for him. Therefore I must keep preservation of things I care about. That's the most logical way of putting it. It was a hard decision, probably even a stupid one. You can imagine how difficult of a task it is for me to spare your life knowing that you killed an important family member of mine. For that I would like to think I'm…" he stopped again to chuckle and continued, "the superior race by showing mercy."

"I'm giving you the gift of life to live once more. Should you make me regret my decision, there will not be a second chance for you, Irvine Kinneas. As far as King Laguna is concerned, I will have you marked as 'deceased'. In short: I never want to see, smell, or hear of you again. If you set one foot inside the Esthar continent, I'll execute a form of punishment that hasn't been used in centuries. Heed these warnings if you do not want to be _quartered_."

There was a long silence between the two after the cowboy took one huge gulp. Irvine had not been given permission to speak what so ever, so he did not of course. All that could be heard was the sound of their breathing, one pattern of breath more panicked than the other. "Nod again if I have your word that you will disappear, and that I will never see you again."

Irvine nodded once.

"Good." Laharl sat up straddling the man slightly and hopped off of the bed. When he turned to leave-

"And what about Nida?" Laharl didn't turn around but he stopped in his tracks giving the cowboy room to elaborate. "Am I to just forget him? Let him run off with you?"

"Don't worry about Nida's relationship with me. That's for _US _to worry about. As for your friendship...I suppose I can't stand in the way now can I? But remember your promise. Now if you'll excuse me-I have a party to attend." And with that Laharl was gone as quickly as he appeared. At the flash of lightning, he was gone.

Irvine's breathing slowly returned to normal. Was what just happened another nightmare? Was it real? It was surely real. Laharl was mere inches away from him and had spared his life. Where could the man go from here?

**Laharl**

Cranky, groggy and irritable were his companions that escorted him toward the dinner party. Nida had been right all along, he scoffed. Laharl decided after he awoke from his vampire-nap that he really _was_ jealous and insecure about the women of this country coming on to Nida, at least that's what he thought he felt. He was no expert in the phenomena of human emotions, the only thing he knew was that they were, well…_bad._

At least that's what he had been told in his upbringing. But even jealousy, hatred, anger, insecurity and quite possibly flashes of love etc, basically all of the 'emotions' that were deemed as _bad _by the books of his people...they made Laharl feel some type of...

He stopped in the stone-walled corridor of the castle, too deep in thought to continue. He had become so frustrated by the pandemonium that went on inside of him, he just wanted to smash a window, but that would be bad manners seeing as this wasn't his home. He took a deep breath and decided he would worry about it later. He was too exhausted to be fighting himself when he knew he'd be commanding a war in a few hours.

At last he made it to the dining hall and was greeted by yet another tall dark guard. "Where's your escort?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ya name is Laharl, correct?"

"Yes," Laharl could feel his irritation level rising and patience dropping with this man already.

"You cannot be seated without your escort."

"I don't need a fuckin' escort!" Laharl was about to curse his way in when he felt a familiar presence standing beside him.

"Sorry I'm late," he heard Nida's voice say to the guard. "We're together."

The guard moved to the side as if nothing happened, allowed the two young boys to pass and quickly moved back into his post.

"I can't believe the nerve of some people," Laharl scoffed as he entered the ethereal dining hall and completely missing its beauty.

Nida grabbed his elbow firmly, yet gently at the same time waiting until Laharl came to a complete stop. He leaned in close to him and said in a serious low tone, "Tomorrow, you and I are rushing off into battle together, whether you like it or not. This is our last _real _night together. Please allow yourself to enjoy it. For my sake-I want everything to be _perfect_."

Nida's words hit Laharl like drugs, bringing him high to the ceiling and making him settle at the bottom of the ocean to sing the song of a beautiful demon. "Fine," was all he said without a single hint of bitchy aggravation. 'I'm fucking going crazy. He has so much control over me,' Laharl thought to himself as he sat down at the dinner table setting his napkin.

The sound of a fork chimed in the Hall, bringing Laharl out of his senses. The chandelier above the table illuminated the room and light reflected off of the crystal goblets and silverware. Everything in this room was glowing, and light danced off of everyone's skin, making them look like they were beyond royalty. This was more taste than Esthar could ever dream of...

"Nos zola ezbera lo falmila Fedoke," a man near the head of the table announced.

Laharl looked to Nida in confusion. "I think he said that we're just waiting on the royal family now..." Nida guessed

"How do you know that?" Laharl felt guilty for not catching on to the Trabian dialect yet.

"Well, I mean they _are _the only ones missing right now."

"Oh," Laharl replied dumbly.

Suddenly everyone in the Hall stood. In the far reaches of the hall, Laharl could see two-no-three figures emerging down the carpeted marble steps. Two of them were obviously female, full figured and adorned in sparkling gold ornaments and in white silk cloth dresses. One was caramel complexion and the other brown mahogany. Both clad in elegant dinner gowns made from the most expensive Trabian fabrics.

And the third: A powerful looking man. With coal colored skin and a barrel-like chest. In comparisons of kings, Laharl decided that this was how a human king was supposed to look. He was wearing gold colored silk pants and his robe was made of an expensive looking fur with a bronze plated vest underneath. King Fedoke was about three times the size of King Loire. Four Times as darker, and probably three times unfriendlier, his eyes revealed the potential of his human tempee. Which was strange because Laguna was the vampire. Laharl decided he would just wait until morning to talk to or even approach the man. Needless to say, Laharl was actually intimidated by the man.

First the Queen stepped down, then the King and then finally, "Comfort?...Christ..." were the only two words Laharl could remember from his vocabulary suddenly.

She had changed out of that shitty constricting F.L.A.R.E. uniform and was now wearing a silky gown that covered her feet which were now clad in glass slippers with a heel. She and her mother were honestly probably the two most beautiful women Laharl and Nida had ever seen.

"Welcome guests!" Comfort said in both English and Trabian "Thank you all for coming to my arrival celebration. It wouldn't have been possible without the help of my friend Laharl right there." Everyone looked in the boy's direction and began clapping for him. Laharl remained expressionless for the most part but forced a nonchalant nod of gratitude. Nothing too loose, he was very uptight in this new surrounding even if the people _did _show him some love.

"I am now a free Trabian. Let's toast to one day having complete freedom of our nation. To live and be artists as we truly want to be!" Everyone cheered and raised their glasses and sipped their fine Trabian wine. Laharl sipped too with guilt. It was his people that forced Trabians to become servants. As he sipped he noticed how sweet and delicious the drink was. "Now let's eat! I'm starving!" Comfort finished her speech and dinner commenced.

Laharl didn't usually eat human food, but everything on the menu that night was absolutely delicious. And there was also more varieties of wine, the finest Laharl had ever had. Towards the end of dinner he could feel himself gradually becoming tipsy. Nida had already had 3 glasses of 'White Pleasure' and seemed completely fine. Laharl had drunk about five glasses once the dancing began and could no longer feel his face. He couldn't stop drinking the delicious wine, not realizing how much alcohol he was consuming. Add this to the fact that he hadn't been drinking much blood regularly so his ration of Blood:Alcohol was off. Literally.

The music began to play tribal music after the table was cleared and moved for free-movement and sensations waved over Laharl almost instantly. The Trabians were pairing up and dancing with each other. They were such lively people! Laharl wanted to be a part of it! He envied them for being so free spirited and talented. They were so much more interesting than his people, he thought with resentment.

"I wanna dance," Laharl said suddenly to Nida.

"Let's go, then," Nida immediately replied Laharl was confused for a moment. He had only been saying his thoughts out loud. He didn't actually mean- "C'mon, you big goofball!" the teenager urged his vampire companion.

"Lord have mercy." Laharl couldn't stop laughing, dancing and smiling fifteen minutes into dancing with Nida. The boy was so much fun, the music was so good and everyone was having a good time. Would this night last forever? He hoped it did. Laharl tried to imitate the movement of the Trabians and dance like them by moving his small hips. He didn't care how good of a job he was doing as long as he felt good. His body moved for him. Why did he feel so free all of a sudden?

"You two having fun?" a familiar voice asked suddenly when one song changed to another. They stopped dancing with each other to see Comfort smiling at them with a knowing smirk. A taller black man stood behind her in silence. Either he was being shy or just didn't speak English.

Laharl's vision cleared and he couldn't help but stare at Comfort when he had a clear image of her. Before he had just considered her a common tomboy-one who basically acted like a guy with a _very _female body. It was sad to say, but that's how he used to think of her. And now seeing her like this, so docile and subdued like…a real princess.

"What?" she snapped at Laharl, making him break his rude staring. "Da fuck you starin' at so hard?"

Well...she still had the _mouth_ of a man...

"Nothing!" Laharl lied.

"My parents want to talk to you tomorrow," she said suddenly. "Before we ship off. Don't forget."

"Perfect," said Nida.

Comfort gave Nida a look, "Just Laharl, hon."

"Oh okay I see how it is. I'm just a side-character, huh?"

Comfort smiled at Nida and rolled her eyes. "You're such a funny person." She messed up his sharp Asian hair more.

Laharl, obviously drunk, turned to Comfort and said, "Comfort, this is amazing!" He grabbed her shoulders and continued, "You're country is amazing. I'm sorry Esthar is a bunch of assholes."

Comfort examined his bright violet orbs closer and laughed. "Laharl, you're drunk!"

"Well aren't we all?" Nida asked slurring his words a little dramatically. Technically Nida was only a bit tipsy and he knew he would be taking care of Laharl for the night.

"Yes," Comfort admitted. "But Sir, _Laharl _is drunk. The world must be coming to an end. He's actually kicking his feet up!" she seemed to laughed really hard at this.

Laharl laughed hysterically and said with less seriousness than he wanted, "Let's not talk about the world ending until tomorrow, kay?"

"Agreed," said Nida.

"Fine," Comfort rolled her eyes but kept her smile. All three of them, Comfort, Nida, and Laharl knew that tomorrow meant they may not ever come back alive, or that there was a possibility they would be separated indefinitely. But they wouldn't let that get in the way of this party and having a good time. Tonight belonged to them and no outside force could take that away from the friendship they had formed with each other. "Well, me and my partner, Dilig are gonna go 'turn up'. I'll see you guys when I see you, then. Be gud!" That was the last time either boy saw her that night.

"You think she's going to go get laid?" Laharl asked when she was out of earshot.

"Definitely."

The boys burst out in tears from laughter on the dance floor. Yeah tonight was going to be a good night. Or so they hoped...

**Seifer**

**-Timber-**

Seifer came into his housing-car from another tireless day of laboring in the Train Graveyard. The car where he and Zell had been living for about the past week. He had run into Zone along the way. "Hey, how's it going?" he greeted.

"I'm good," Seifer sort-of smiled when he responded. He was being given a place to stay practically for free, the least he could do was try a little harder to keep nice with everyone in the Train Graveyard and in his car. He mainly just kept conversation to a minimum with everyone giving short answers and focused on his work.

Seifer, being a vampire with demonic strength and enhanced abilities, got more work done than anybody else. He fixed the most gaslights and collected the most ore that was hidden in the dirt. He was definitely doing a good job earning he and Chicken's keep.

But why did he feel like something was missing? Why did he feel like there was a hole in his chest these past few days that felt so obvious whenever he inhaled. He hated to admit it, but in the back of his mind he _knew _it was because Zell was literally three feet across the hall from him in their car and he was actually _afraid _to approach the boy. Why was he _afraid_!?

Seifer was bigger than Zell, faster and probably smarter but...this wasn't all about physicality anymore...it was starting to become something else. Something that felt familiar to Seifer, reminding him of his childhood, something he _rarely_ ever thought about because of painful memories. It had happened gradually as he traveled with his smaller companion. There were moments where Zell's humanity had given off warmth to Seifer's cold and lifeless existence. Seifer grew too fond of it, which had weakened him when it came to matters involving Zell.

If it had kept up he probably would have met the same fate as Fucking Leonheart: A dead duck.

And now here they were. So close, yet so far away...sexually frustrated...not speaking to each other and-

"Hey."

He looked up to see that he was staring right at Zell. Seifer froze in the hallway. He had been so focused on his own thoughts he hadn't even seen the boy from down the hall. 'Say something, you idiot!' "Hey!" Seifer replied back with his voice spiking higher than normal because of his nerves.

"Can we talk inside?" Zell asked. The boy looked sincere. He probably wanted to apologize and make this whole issue a thing of the past. Seifer found himself thanking the heavens, because secretly he knew he probably couldn't have gathered up the balls to apologize _first. _Pride can be an ugly thing sometimes...

"Sure."

Seifer gestured for Zell to go in first. The two made their way in Seifer's compartment and he closed the door behind him, intentionally not locking it so Zell wouldn't get the wrong idea _at all. _When did Seifer become so righteous?

"Listen, about the other night-"

"I'm sorry," Seifer interrupted.

Zell paused in shock. He wasn't expecting Seifer to apologize first. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have led you on like that..."

"And I shouldn't have made myself so comfortable in your room, or came over unannounced...and been so rough with you..."

"It's okay," Zell said as he took a seat on the corner of Seifer's bed.

Seifer raised a brow at the boy as he sat down. What did he mean by 'It's okay?' Did that mean he was forgiven, or did that mean it was okay to be rough with him during sex? The fact that Zell sat down on the bed and said 'It's okay' really gave Seifer the wrong impression. He didn't want another incident like the other night when they had _just_ apologized to one another.

"So how has work been the past few days. What's it like? Is it hard?"

Zell looked so inviting sitting on Seifer's bed like that. Warning bells were going off in the man's head. He had to get out, but this was _his _room. Just go on as though everything were normal. "Work is work. It's grueling labor, but I mean you get to stay warm and fed so I guess it's not so bad. And yes it's...hard." Seifer could feel himself getting hard so he sat down on the bed a decent enough distance away from Zell.

Zell giggled strangely. "Are you okay? You seem nervous."

"I'm good. Just a little exhausted."

"You want me to leave so you can rest? You probably have to get up early tomorrow for work."

No! Please don't leave. I _need_ you! He screamed in his head. "It doesn't matter...we can stay and keep talking if you want to."

Zell perked up and sat Indian style on the bed, fully facing Seifer now. "Cool, then. So what's it like being a vampire?"

**Laharl and Nida**

**-Trabia-**

"Man," Nida said suddenly as he sipped his wine. Laharl lowered his glass and turned to listen to what his date had to say. "Irvine is missing all the fun. He would absolutely love this..."

Laharl's body immediately stiffened. It was almost as though Nida had struck a soldier's nerve. He couldn't tell the boy that he couldn't be friends with Irvine anymore. That wouldn't be fair at all. Laharl and Nida had already exchanged so much between themselves. Laharl tried to act normal, like that statement hadn't meant much. But it _did _mean a lot. So he simply said, "I'm gonna go outside for some air really quick."

Without waiting for Nida to say anything, he turned and left rather rudely and abruptly. As he listened to the music fading from his hearing, the feeling of guilt increased. He had threatened a sick man mere moments ago and the person he was beginning to care about the most was concerned for Irvine. Laharl could be fucked up in the head in a lot of ways, but then again a lot of vampires were. Take it or leave it.

Laharl walked and walked outside in the grassy courtyard of the Fedoke castle until he found himself out of the light from the large electric poles that were powered by the extravagant facility. He preferred the darkness as always because he was a creature of the darkside. It made perfect sense.

How did one go about telling a guy that you like that you may inevitably kill his best friend? The math was quite simple really...Irvine aided a criminal in the murder of the prince of Esthar, which was practically Laharl's brother. It only made sense that Laharl slit Irvine's throat later on in the future if the man didn't heed his warning.

"Don't think too hard. Alcohol and evil plans of revenge don't really mix too well."

Laharl unsheathed his claws and swung to decapitate whoever had snuck up on him.

However, his wrist, was caught just in time by the person who approached him. "Careful. You might break a nail."

"Geez, Nida! Don't fucking sneak up on me like that!"

"I figured you would have felt me or smelled me coming-oh wait I forgot. I turned my power off around you because you say it's a turn off."

Laharl shook his head at the boy. "I am just too drunk for all of this!" he exclaimed.

"Why don't we go sit down over here." Nida gestured to a stone bench over in the light. Laharl turned his lip upward at the brightness but nevertheless complied with his friend.

They sat down together and for a while neither of them said anything. When Nida finally felt Laharl relax he said, "So I guess Irvine is a touchy subject, huh?"

"How'd you-"

"Laharl, please. I know I act stupid, but I'm not an idiot," he reasoned.

"I guess you have a point."

"There's my orders and my family," Laharl found himself trying to reason.

"There's also your free will..."

Laharl eyes the boy for a moment. "What? What does that have to do-"

"Your. Free. Will. You know that thing that you used when you decided to disobey your king and kamikazed your aircraft on top of S.E.E.D. Tower. You had orders _then_, right? But you abandoned them according to your priorities, right!?"

Nida was looking for everything, anything. Any type of bone to throw at Laharl to convince him of sparing his best friend.

"That's different!" Laharl tried to reason with Nida.

"How?"

"It just, it just. I-"

Nida grabbed Laharl so he couldn't get away or back out. He held him close to his chest. "Revenge isn't always the right answer. Trust Me. Do you wanna end up like me? Some unknown fucking species bent on revenge. We've talked about this before, Laharl. You have a choice. Let the vengeance and the Hunger consume you, or just forgive.'

"Laharl felt himself pulling away involuntarily. This was beginning to get heavy. "Well you know I'm not going to give you an answer now. I have to think about this..whether or not to kill him..."

"I know you'll make the right choice. I won't even interfere. It's because I've been around you long enough."

"You don't know me, Nida. I'm ruthless."

"No, you're beautiful, kind, and more caring than you want to admit."

"Stop it."

"My angel."

"Stop it _now_! Just shut the FUCK UP! Get off of me!" Laharl became very angry at this point and ripped himself away from Nida. Something inside his chest began to burn ans shake violently causing him slight pain. "Aack!" The next words almost literally killed Laharl.

"I love you, Laharl!"

Laharl fell down on the floor and tears instantly ran out of his eyes. "No! Stop it, Nida! Fuck, what did you do to me!?"

Nida rushed to his side and held him in his arms. "It's okay. I'm here."

"No! I can't be like this. Nida, make it stop. Change me back, now!" he began throwing a tantrum like a brat.

Nida grabbed Laharl's now warm hand an placed it on his chest. "You feel that? That sound?" Laharl listened for a moment and then nodded. "It means you're in love."

"I'm in love?" he asked as though he had been reborn.

Nida nodded his approval with a smile on his face. Laharl lifted his hand and placed it on Nida's chest. "It's the same," he said.

"What?"

"Your heart and...mine. They have the same pattern."

Nida placed a hand above Laharl's, listened for a moment and finally said, "You're right."

The two met for a kiss.

**Zell and Mell**

**-Timber-**

_Ah, I see you're taking my advice and getting to know him on a more personal level. Good._

I don't know what I'm doing anymore, Mellenia. I'm unstable as fuck right now, I can't get any more psychotic than I am right now. Right now I'm practically on a date with the man who killed my husband. I have nothing else to do until these damn Timber trains start running again.

_Make as many excuses as you want, Hon._

Seifer chuckled at the question. He placed his elbows on his thighs and looked at the floor in between his bare feet. "No one has ever asked me that before." He looked at Zell to see him give Seifer a look that said 'really?' "I don't have any friends so no one really asks me that."

"Why don't you have friends?" Zell asked innocently. "I mean aside from being well, you know, an asshole and killing people you're likeable."

"It's a choice I made a long time ago. I don't let people get close, it's weird and scary...and I don't usually have conversations like this with..._people_." He almost choked on his last word in disbelief that he was saying these things out loud, secretly admitting more to himself than he was to Zell.

In the back of his head, Zell noted that Seifer was more expressive than Squall had been. He also noted that maybe comparing Seifer to Squall wasn't healthy. But what was even healthy, anyway?

"But to answer your question," Seifer continued. "Being a vampire is, lonely. Cold. Fucking scary. Most times you have no real family. They're either dead or _worse _they can't live with a monster so you're cast out, and when that happens you can;t stay in one place for too long or get to know people because you get accused of horrible things...like deaths...and the Thirst that comes with being what I am...sometimes it's unbearable. But I've learned to feed right and I keep it in check for the most part."

Zell remained silent. He knew Seifer would say more. "That's the bad side of being a vampire. The good side is I can go pretty much anywhere I want, I never age-I'll live forever and I'm more powerful than ever imaginable."

"So you're saying you would never go back to being a human?"

"You mean go back to being weak? Now, why would I do that, Chickie?" That cocky grin was back but not as harsh as it normally was. "Why would I go back to being a man when I'm practically a God?"

Zell had no answer.

_He's got a point._

"And even if I _did _go back..." Seifer's eyes looked forward at his compartment door distantly.

"What?" Zell urged. Talk to me.

"No one to go back to," was all he said.

Zell knew what he wanted to ask next. But he was afraid to ask. It might be going over the limit of 'things to ask a vampire on the first date'. But this is Zell we're talking about, so naturally he asked anyway. No filter. What-so-ever. "What happened to your family?"

Seifer tensed and gave Zell a cold and distant look.

"Okay, never mind. Sorry. I didn't mean to dig to deep into you..."

Zell inwardly kicked himself and Mellenia just shook his head.

"It's cool. That's another fucked up story for me to tell you another day." Seifer laughed and messed up Zell's hair. He swatted Seifer's hand away and made himself more comfortable on Seifer's bed. Seifer grinned in the boy's direction and said, "You're lucky, Zell."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you're beautiful, and you have friends and family that will always love you."

Zell's cheeks turned red. Seifer had just called him beautiful and. "You just-" Seifer's eyes grew wide in shock. Like a child who got caught stealing cookies from off of the table. Immediately he shot up from the bed and stood with his back toward the door. "Seifer?" Zell asked in shock.

"Leave," the man said.

"But I-"

"NOW!" Seifer barked making Zell jump. He stood up off of Seifer's bed and walked slowly toward the door. On the way to the door he stopped so that his body was close to Seifer's. He glanced at him and had never seen the vampire so vulnerable before. He had called him beautiful and told him that he was loved.

"Do you love me, Seif?" The words escaped his lips and before the man could lie out of anger, Zell pushed himself up against the man and forced their lips together. The kiss was long and sensual. Not sexual, almost romantic in a way. This was bound to happen, Zell thought as Seifer deepened the kiss.

When they parted, two words escaped the smaller blond's lips. "I'm sorry." Immediately after, their lips found their way toward one another and Seifer began shredding Zell's clothes with his talons forcefully. It was on and there was no going back for either of them.

**Seifer**

Any inkling that Seifer ever had of kicking Zell out of his room was quickly diminished. Quite frankly he would be a fucking fool if he _did_ kick him out. Here stood before him the finest piece of ass-no-he couldn't say things like that even in his mind, not anymore. Not when it came to Zell. No, this creature of pure everything-that-was-fucking-righteous, practically throwing all but his soul onto Seifer. The younger boy obviously needed this and the taller man was more than happy to oblige.

After he had successfully and with minimal effort ripped Zell's shirt off, he put his arms around his slim waist and laid him down gently onto Seifer's bed, his weight on top of him. Seifer excused his lips from Zell's for a moment to attack the now exposed nipple.

He could hear a whimper escape Zell's lips below him, further fueling the man's urge to mate. As he sucked on the pink bud, Seifer reached his hand down to unbutton the front of Zell's jeans only to be met with natural protest.

Zell stopped Seifer's actions with the soft palm of his hand on the man's wrist, before allowing Seifer to overpower it and reach into his pants.

"Uhn." Zell moaned and Seifer watched as his skin turned red while he played with Zell's clothed manhood. Seifer initiated more making out while he continued to fondle the younger boy's hard member. The vampire became surprised when he felt a small hand, pulling the front of his work pants down. Seifer's could feel his own large dick wagging in front of him after it had been released so suddenly. It hurt a little to wag around while he was so stiff and large, but then again it felt good to be free from the confines of his work trousers.

Seifer grunted as Zell began stroking him gently. Zell knew it wasn't wet yet so he didn't stroke to hard. Good boy. But if this kept up, he didn't know how long he could go without just plowing right through and dry fucking the boy. Seifer removed his hand from inside Zell's pants and Zell immediately did the same. Fair trade.

Seifer placed his fingers on the insides of Zell's pants at his hips and tugged roughly so the damn things would be off. Zell sat up and as he breathed heavily pulled Seifer's shirt over his head-the man complied and shrugged off his own pants as well. There they laid. The two boys on Seifer's bed. One of them in skin tight black underwear and the other completely nude save for his gray socks. Seifer took a moment to snap out of his desire to admire the beautiful piece of art before him.

There Zell laid panting, cheeks red, skin tinted with gold from the sun of Esthar making him not too white. Black ink along the side of his face leading up to eyes that said, 'Fuck me long and hard, Daddy.' He asked for it.

Seifer unsheathed the talon on his index finger and sliced Zell's underwear from the side careful not to cut his thigh or his hip. The sound of the fabric broke into the air like a balloon popping in a library. Seifer now had full access to the restricted section. He sheathed all of his claws and proceeded to put his own fingers in his mouth. He was about to salivate his digits with vampire essence but...

**Mell**

"Lemme do it," Zell said suddenly. Seifer noticed how Zell's smell of lilac had faded and his voice became so much sexier. More mature and deadlier. The Hume took two of his fingertips and placed them at the man's bottom lip. Seifer was far too masculine to ever put another man's cock in his mouth, but he could do this one small favor and get Zell's fingers slimy enough for what he was about to do next.

Seifer sucked awkwardly and uncomfortably on Zell's skinny white fingers. When they were slick enough, Mell laid back on the bed again and said, "Just sit there and enjoy the show for a while." He proceeded to open his legs and bend his knees so that his pretty pink cavity was revealed completely to Seifer who sat there now stroking himself in awe. He watched as Zell placed his fingers coated with vampire lubricant inside himself and went in and out, stretching, prodding, pleasuring. Seifer almost came from watching but that was absolutely forbidden.

Before he became too absorbed in watching his free pornography the man exclaimed a, "Fuck!" He hadn't known Zell was this sexual of a being. This was definitely worth the wait. "Do you like what you see?" Mell asked as he threw his head back and moaned in ecstasy from the pleasure he was giving himself mouth completely agape.

Seifer continued to touch himself as he watched Zell's tight hole stretching further and further. It would take forever for Zell to make himself flexible enough for Seifer to split him open completely, Zell would just have to deal with it, he supposed. "I can't fucking watch you do this anymore," the man said with a dry throat. He laid himself on top of Zell and lifted his legs onto his shoulders. "I hope you're ready, cuz I am."

And without another word or waiting for a response from the human, he pushed himself intrusively inside Zell's smaller tight body. "Aah! FUCK!"

"Shhh!" Seifer shot as he cupped Zell's mouth and also while trying to keep his own pleasure inaudible as well. "Everyone will hear you if you scream. They'll think something is wrong."

Zell's voice had become normal again and a small tear escaped the corner of his eye without warning. "Seifer, you're too big!" Zell cried. Mellenia had let Zell take control of his own body so he could experience first-hand at Seifer felt like to be fully inside him. Mellenia wasn't selfish at all. Not if it came to something like this. When Zell felt his own senses coming back to him, he felt like he was being split in half and he almost let out a scream again if it weren't for Seifer cupping his mouth with his hand.

It took everything for Seifer not to just roughly plunge into his tightness over and over. He felt like Zell would rip his cock off at any given moment. Zell wrapped his legs around Seifer's hips rin reaction to the pain that wasn't dulling fast enough and cried out into the palm of his hand. "Zell, don't cry. Please," Seifer begged shifting his hips into Zell slightly. "If I stay still it will hurt. Here," Seifer said turning himself and Zell over efficiently so that Zell was straddling on top of Seifer.

_Wow, M_ellenia commented. _Flipped you over without making himself flop out of you. He's good..._

"Ride me for a while until you get used to me," he said.

Zell now straddled the vampire underneath him more confidently. He knew exactly what to do now and this _was _a better position for him because it gave him slight control. He thought back on his first time with Squall how he was given absolutely no control at all because he had slept with a vampire then.

He was still currently fucking a vampire, but this was different. If Zell could imagine ever having sex with a human this was probably the closest he'd ever come.

This was just like his dream, he thought. Maybe he was thinking too much...maybe he should just do what he came here to do. He began riding slowly so as not to hurt himself on this steed of a man. Seifer watched in silence at the boy above him. "You're good at this," he commented.

"Shut up. I'm trying to concentrate."

Seifer almost burst out in giggly pleasure form his remark, he was just so damn cute sometimes. Seifer placed his hands on Zell's hips to keep him balanced for when Seifer began thrusting upward.

"Aa!" Zell moaned. That was unexpected. "A warning would have been nice!"

"Warning for what? You mean this?" He earned himself another moan. And then another. "You didn't think I was going to lay like this for _that _long did you?" Seifer grinned evilly.

Eventually Zell's opening became wide enough for the man to turn him back over and fuck him blind into the mattress. Anyone passing by their door could hear the two boys grunting and moaning and the springs underneath Seifer's mattress protesting their activities. They kissed, sweated and pleasured each other. It was definitely worth the wait.

It had also been the weirdest sexual experience Zell had ever had. Switching back and forth from himself to Mell made things even more strange. Is this what being crazy meant? Because if it is, he'd take it 5 days a week.

**Nida and Laharl**

**-Trabia-**

Once the two human boys began making out they never stopped. They were each trying to devour each other in their own way, to be fully consumed with one another. After all, _that_ is the _true _definition of love. To be one with another being, completely consumed.

Laharl didn't struggle anymore. He just let the sensations and feelings wash over him with the touch of Nida's hands all over his body. The two teens continued making out away from the upbeat party going on inside. The music that came from the Hall was the perfect background noise so that they were not kissing in complete silence on this stone bench out in the courtyard.

Laharl appreciated moments like this when he was away from stupid war and his duties to Esthar. There was no paperwork, sound of gunfire or the harsh intoxicating smell of blood. He was just a normal free teen. Free to love and kiss the thin lips of anyone he chose. Is this what it meant to be human? Is this what it meant to be in love? If so, what did that make Nida to him now?

A boyfriend? A lover? So many questions now. He supposed at the end of the day, it wouldn't matter what he labeled Nida as. Only that he loved him and that they made each other happy. Laharl had no fear of himself anymore; No fear of his own feelings. He's a different being now and new fears await him, but he didn't want to think about those new fears right now. At least not in Trabia, anyway. Because this place had turned out to be a sanctuary for him. A magical Kingdom where _anything _could happen. If he had remained in Esthar, he was sure he would never have evolved or learned how to become something else. Something so...so...It's indescribable. Or maybe he just hadn't been human long enough to be able to describe.

The point is: It took being miles away from his own home to realize who he truly was and what he really wanted out of life. Trabia is the land where a miracle happened.

A small moan escaped Laharl's lips and into the cool night air as Nida bit his ear lobe gently.

"Shhh," Nida whispered. "We'll get caught."

Then let's stop. Not here...somewhere else," the violet eyed human panted breathlessly.

"Fuck. You're hot when you want me like that."

The sound of giggling children cut into Laharl like the propeller of an airship through wind. "Shit!" he exclaimed as he detached himself from Nida, stood up and tried his best to look normal all in one motion.

Suddenly there were children coming out of the woodwork of the castle. All of them were different shades of brown and bronze and they ran past the two boys and down the hill as though Nida and Laharl didn't even exist.

"What's going on? Where are all of these children going so fast?" Nida asked. They were all barefoot and in their pajamas. Wasn't it past their bedtime?

"Let's get out of here!" Laharl urged. "They're creeping me out." Laharl wanted to get away from these children and possibly take Nida back up to his room and fuck his brains out. Something had happened to his biology once he turned human and his hormones were busting out the seams of his pants.

Nida, however didn't budge. Instead he just watched the children run down the hill until they were all completely out of view and then he finally said, "Let's go follow them!"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on!" Without waiting for a response from Laharl at all, Nida took off blindly down the hill after those kids.

"What the fu-"

"Get over here!"

"He's so stupid sometimes!" Laharl muttered under his breath as he took off sprinting down the hill after Nida.

About four dozen children awaited them down the hill. Laharl joined Nida outside the large group of 7 to 12-year-olds. They were all so excited it seemed, like they were anticipating something. They sat down cross-legged on the soft grass and they seemed to be looking up at an empty stone chair...what, or rather 'whom' Laharl decided, were they waiting for?

The two boys got their answer almost immediately as a slumped figure came into view from around the chair. It walked slow and hunched over with many cloaks. Another Elder, Nida and Laharl noticed. Clothed in elaborate thick sheets of red, green and yellow and walking with a heavy amount of wisdom and experience, she sat down on the stone chair. Her long white braid sat at the top of her head.

"Benievem, Nyngen. Ets dorsey tiem," she said so that everyone could hear. For an old woman she sure had a very strong voice. She didn't even need a microphone. And once she spoke, every single child became silent, including Laharl and Nida. Laharl gripped Nida's arm tightly.

Laharl urged Nida that they both leave. As far as he was concerned, they were just two out of place teenagers without any substantial color to their skin and they should get lost. They didn't belong here.

His protests brought on the unwanted attention of everyone surrounding including the Elder. She raised her eyebrows across the courtyard at them. Apparently her eyesight was as strong as her voice, because she was able to pin-point the two boys even when they weren't standing in the light of the outdoor parts of the castle.

"I didn't realize we had guests," she said in perfect English."All of my children are welcome to story time, including children that are not my own. Meaning, you do not have to be Trabian to attend story time."

"Oh thank you so much. But we are not chil-" Nida nudged Laharl's slim waist and interrupted him.

"We'd love to stay," Nida responded to the Elder instead. He grabbed Laharl by the hand and dragged him through the sea of children and sat down _right_ in the middle of them all. They all giggled at how funny Nida was and at how Laharl tried to squirm away and looked absolutely awkward and uncomfortable in his current situation.

Laharl didn't bother becoming embarrassed or upset because this was bound to happen. Nida _was _pretty much a child at heart. Therefore, he was right where he belonged. The Elder grinned in satisfaction and began to tell her story:

_This is the Tale of the Dragon and the Angel._

_Long ago there existed a far away land that had rich moist soil and an abundance of sunlight. The country has lost its name to history, but it flourished with prosperity, riches and happiness, even in the midst of the cruelest wars._

_One might think that this was the perfect place to live, on the contrary its imperfect government system is what triggered the main events in this story._

_There once was a low class farmer boy from this now lost country. He was a farmer whose father was a farmer, and his father before him a farmer and so on and so on. One day in town, the boy met a beautiful girl. She had pale skin, violet eyes and violet hair. Her name was Lenne. The boy didn't know, however that the girl was a princess. Not only was she a princess but she was the daughter to a mighty and ruthless King. He called her his Forbidden Treasure, his sweet little girl._

_No one, especially a common farmer boy, unless they were of the purest blood, was suitable for his daughter as a husband._

_As luck would have it, a prince from the neighboring kingdom met the criteria and asked for the daughters' hand in marriage and soon-after, the Prince and the Forbidden Treasure were wed to one another, much to the farmer boy's grief._

_The poor farmer boy's name by the way was Audin Xia, and one day Audin earned a job cleaning for the palace where the Forbidden Treasure lived! 'This is destiny,' he thought._

_Overtime The Forbidden Treasure and Audin began to have an affair and fell deeply in love with one another. Of course no one could ever know about this or they would both be killed before the eyes of the world._

_So one day Audin said, 'Come with me. Run away with me. We'll have our own family and we can be together forever.'_

_She wavered at first, allowing fear to hold her back, but true love always prevails and eventually she ran away from her kingdom with the farm boy Audin. They lived in solitude for a few years on their farm that they had built with their own hands. All they needed were each other and for their family now with many children to be wholesome and happy. Until one day..._

"_What happens next?" Nida asked barely above a whisper._

_The Elder smiled and continued:_

_The two were found by the King's soldiers and the Forbidden Treasure was killed at her own father's orders. She was a traitor for committing adultery and abandoning her family. Along with all of their children and their livestock and crops. Audin had been forced to witness it all. After they were done burning everything in sight, Audin was released. He had just witnessed his whole family killed in front of him, he was dead in more than one way. The man was broken._

_After he had seen the heinous act committed, his soul began to crack. Gradually shattering like glass. A demon awoke inside of him, for no man should ever be allowed to watch their family die and continue on living._

_The same night that the Forbidden Treasure's blood spilled to the ground, an entire kingdom had been mascaraed. It was the bloodiest act known to man. The next day, there was no blood or evidence near any bodies of what happened. Audin had drank every drop of blood in sight, leaving dried out bodies in the streets. And that is why that country no longer exists._

"What happened to Audin?" Laharl asked concern clearly on his face for the man in the story.

"Some say he died. Others say that he lays in waiting for someone in his bloodline to awaken him. If the right requirements are met, he will be reborn as a fierce creature and once again destroy a nation."

"What do you mean requirements?" Nida asked almost barking and scaring a few nearby children who were listening to what they thought was just a mere ghost story. "Requirements like a curse!?" he demanded.

The Elder was going to answer but Laharl placed his hand on his chest and whispered to him that they leave once and for all. The vixen didn't take no for an answer. He dragged the furious Asian away from all of these innocent kids. The party, unfortunately, had to come to an end for these two. "She shouldn't be telling stories like that to kids," Laharl muttered to his companion. "Trabian or not..."

**Leon**

**-Balamb-**

He had been enjoying his date with Ellone so far. They had ate junk food at a small restaurant that recently opened up in town called Gulla Dog. It was delicious. He didn't think greasy and fried foods in oil and salt would be so delicious, but it _was_ and he couldn't wait to go back sometime and taste all the other different types of hot dogs. As he chewed into the meat between the bread, he couldn't help but feel a certain familiarity over take him. The taste of the ketchup and the hot dog between the bread seemed so familiar to him. As he chewed, he thought about Zell and began to feel very guilty. After all, he _was _on a date with Ellone. He shouldn't be thinking about Zell.

"I'm glad you liked it," Ellone said as they began to leave the restaurant. "We have to hurry if we wanna catch our movie!" They held hands as they walked to the bus stop that would take them to Balamb Cinema. When they arrived to the movie, Ellone was too engrossed in the movie and her own popcorn to pay any attention to Leon's shift in attitude.

It only took watching the first 20 minutes of the movie for Leon to lock up and analyze every part that he could relate to. It was like his life _was _this movie. He thought someone was playing a prank on him.

The movie that they saw was called Fast and Furious 6. Ellone watched action scenes while Leon went over the plot and characters in his head silently to himself. The main character is a criminal, who is a rich and powerful gorgeous Spanish fiancee and his family in a beautiful far off island paradise.

One day he hears that his first love, who was killed in a horrible car exchange deal, is alive. He doesn't even know if she's really alive or not, these are just rumors that she _could _be alive. Leon sees Dominic's character change greatly when he hears this news. Dominic's whole drive for the movie has completely changed now from living the rest of his life out peacefully, to finding his one true love even if it means risking literally _everything _he has worked for by getting his hands a little dirty.

It turns out that his true love, the woman in question, Letty, is alive and well. There's only one small problem: She has lost her memory and completely denies ever knowing Dominic. The foundation of the storyline was very hit-home for Leon and now you see why-he is able to relate to not just the main character, but the female lead as well.

Leon is a man living in an island, free from any real pain and he had no past either. However, Leon _still_ feels as though something were missing. He just can't avoid it any longer.

For Dominic in the movie, a man suddenly comes to his door one day and tells him that the only truly good thing from his past has come back. He drops everything to find out for sure! Leon just _knew _deep in his heart he would do the same thing: Drop everything! His new life, money, his fiancee all to go back to that happy memory of...what..exactly? He couldn't stop thinking of Zell now. He didn't feel guilty about it anymore either. This is why Leon can relate to Dominic. This had to be love. The only problem was he didn't feel this way when he was with Ellone.

Then there's Letty. The woman who has lost her memory. She's scared, lonely, and confused and everything around her is a dark shadow. Sometime after she woke up from her coma, she had to learn how to be a completely different person, without knowing who her old self was. She had to make new friends and start her _own _family, while her _real _family searched for _her_.

Leon could relate to Letty of course because he has no memory _either,_ and in a way he has formed his own family here in Balamb. If someone were to tell him that they loved him, could he really believe it? Would he listen? Or would he stay in permanent darkness because it was comfortable like Letty did. If Ellone told him that she loved him, what would he say? He tried not to think about it, because he knew he wouldn't be able to return the same feeling.

"Are you okay? I can't hear you breathing..." Ellone suddenly asked.

"Oh I'm fine," she had made Leon jump but he laughed it off. Now he was focused on just watching the movie. He had become too deep in his own emotions for his own good and missed a few good action scenes. When the movie was over, Leon walked Ellone home. She didn't live to far from the theater. Leon had to find out what he wanted in order to move forward, he decided.

When he reached Ellone's doorstep, he kissed her. Long and powerful like he had seen Letty and Dominic do at the end of the movie. "Wow," was all she said with a wide-eyed expression when they finally pulled apart.

"Sorry," he immediately apologized.

"No need. I like you, so it's okay."

"Oh...okay," he said dumbly. "Well goodnight."

"Call me."

"Okay..."

And just like that he began walking home feeling like scum. Because Ellone liked him, but he didn't like her. He liked someone else, but did the person he liked even exist!? He thought he was going crazy and barely missed the tinted jeep pull off when he reached his house. He shrugged it off and went inside the house. It was getting late and he just wanted to crash into his bed.

When he went inside, Ma was already asleep in her room. He walked in and adjusted her covers so that she wouldn't freeze from the chilly November winds. She snuggled deeper into her soft mattress and pillow. He would tell her about his date tomorrow, he decided. He went to bed that night with his sketch pad full of different versions of Zell clenched tightly to his chest. He wanted to dream about meeting him and possibly even more.

**-Outside of The Dincht House-**

A black jeep sped off. The soldier inside of it dialed his superior to report his observations of the night. A woman on the other end picked up the phone.

"Almasy, here," it said when she picked up.

"We have confirmation on another suspect, a young boy around the same age as the main Target staying with The Mother."

"Good. Keep detail and get as much info on him as you can."

"Roger that, out."

"Out."

**Laharl and Nida**

Laharl was just getting his head to stop spinning as he sat on the edge of his bed. He had his head hung low with his eyes closed and he massaged the bridge of his nose gently. When he opened his eyes he lifted his head and just sat there in thought wondering to himself about his new 'situation'. He was human now, and as far as he could tell there wasn't much he could do to change it. Being a vampire was all he had ever known and now, he had to relearn how to live basically.

He heard the bathroom door open behind him. The one that led to his bathroom. Nida must have finished 'taking a leak' as he so eloquently put. "You okay?" Nida asked.

"Yes, of course," he lied. "Thank you for walking me to my room." Truth was, Laharl didn't want to be alone after hearing that story tonight. He knew that attending 'story time' with the children would be a bad idea. The two boys had walked in weird silence the whole way here, their spirits were so low. They were both afraid of speaking about what they had heard. The guards didn't make a peep either. They seemed to just blend in with oil paintings along the way.

Nida sat down on the bed next to his companion. "That story," he began...

"Was that...is that-"

"Please," Nida forcefully cut him off. "Don't say it."

Laharl looked at him. "If we're not going to talk about that, or the fact that I'm just a weak shell of who I used to be, then we may as well just say goodnight to one another." Laharl didn't mean to sound bitter, but he did.

"And when you say 'goodnight' what you really mean is 'goodbye', don't you?" he could tell Nida was becoming angry with him. Laharl may not be able to read his energy any more, but he could still feel certain things.

There was so much outside stress weighing on both of their minds now, but in all fairness there was more on Laharl's end. First turning human unexpectedly, Scary ghost stories, having to wake up tomorrow and lead an army into a small defenseless town, and then there was this: Boyfriend troubles. Just what he fuckin' needed right now, right?

Laharl rolled his eyes as his response for now but continued on. "You're making it seem as though you actually want us to be together now."

"Well that was the idea all along. But you were too blind to see it before because you had that stupid demon guard up. Things become much clearer when you're human, huh?" Nida was becoming aggressive with his words. He was teetering.

"That's not fair. I'm new to this emotion shit, you could be a little more sensitive." Angry tears began to sting his eyes. "And be careful with what you say, Nida," he warned. "I'm human but I could probably still kick your ass." He _was _still _Laharl_ after all. Human or not...

"Laharl, you don't even know what you WANT half the time!" Nida shouted as he got up and headed for the door to leave. He was done with this. Exhausted with chasing after a stubborn cheetah.

"I WANT _YOU_!" the words screamed from his mouth without control. He was afraid that Nida would leave forever.

Nida stopped when he heard the fear in Laharl's voice and his actual choice of words. He rushed back to the boy and held him tightly. Laharl returned the embrace.

"I'm glad you feel the same way as me," Nida said with relief. "I have to tell you something, Laharl."

"What?" he half expected him to declare his love again, but that didn't happen this time.

"My last name is Xia."

**-Timber-**

**-The Next Morning-**

An obnoxious knock came from outside of Zell's door suddenly. At first he didn't answer, but then the knocking persisted.

_Are you gonna answer that? _Mell asked in an annoyed early morning tone.

"Fuck off!" Zell screamed. His body was sore and his head was throbbing. The sex had been too god last night. The dick had been too real.

"Sir, it's me Watts. I have good news, sir!"

Zell groaned and forced himself up from out of bed. When he opened the door to see Watt's face, though. "Oh," was all he said with an immense blush on his face.

"What?" Zell looked down at himself. He was wearing only Seifer's oversized work shirt that fitted him like a bed gown. His previous clothes from last night had been successfully and efficiently ripped during foreplay.

"I wasn't aware that you and Mr. Almasy-er.." he began to sputter making Zell feel slightly embarrassed. He had forgotten that Seifer tore his clothes last night so he had to borrow one of the man's shirts to get back to his own room. Zell cleared his throat wanting this God-awful embarrassing moment to end. "Watts, you wanted to speak to me?" he reminded the man a little impatiently, realizing he sounded like a rude vampire.

"Ah. Yes, sir! Sir, I wanted to let you know that the trains are up and running and the next trip to Balamb is in 45 minutes. You'd better get packing. Zone and I already purchased your ticket, sir."

"That's great news!" Zell exclaimed and jumped on Watts to hug him. "I don't know how I can ever repay you!"

"Don't worry about it, sir," he replied hugging the small boy back. "You and Mr. Almasy were super-helpful. He found the most mineral out of any of the workers. That's how we were able to afford your ticket." An uneasy feeling hit the bottom of Zell's stomach suddenly making him feel like shit. Seifer, he thought.

"Um. Watts would you excuse me for a moment? I'm just going to get dressed and I'll be out in a second."

Watts gave a quick 'Yes, sir' and left promptly. Zell shut the door behind him and leaned against it.

I'm leaving for home...in forty five minutes. By myself...

_Are you going to say goodbye to Seifer? _Mell asked.

Zell was silent for a moment in thought. Finally, he went to go pack his things and said, "No."

_Why not? __For the first time Mell sounded genuinely confused. ____You guys are okay with each other now, right? I mean, I'm pretty satisfied._

"Because," he began after opening his suitcase. "I think it might hurt, okay? Now leave me alone. I did what you wanted me to do. Shouldn't you be leaving now?"

Zell waited for Mell to respond, but he never said anything. He had left his body, he was gone...

Zell shrugged off the feeling of being deserted, he wouldn't admit it to himself that he missed the demon already. He had done his part and fucked Seifer. Mell promised he'd be gone after that. Zell finished packing and headed for the train station, hoping to God that he didn't bump into Seifer on the way.

**A/N: Like I said. Long. Getting closer and closer to the end. Til next time, loves. Leave some feedback, those of you faithful enough to still be with me XP.**

**BTW I am so happy that Zell and Seifer finally did something. Let's see what happens when Zell arrives in Balamb!**


End file.
